Soul Eater Alternative
by Marvelfan604
Summary: Join an all new cast of characters in the world of Soul Eater. New characters, new threats and old demons rise in this new story based off the manga and an alternate take on the story as a whole. Rated M for mature themes/fanservice. Cast are almost all OC besides Lord Death.
1. Chapter 1

**This story is an AU derived from the Soul Eater franchise. I'll be changing around certain elements and most of the characters will be OC while some main-stay plot characters will be a bit OOC to facilitate the changes in universe. Don't expect to see characters like Maka, Soul, Black Star or Kid, the main cast do not exist in this story.**

 **I own nothing from the Soul Eater franchise. This is a work of fiction all right belong to the show's original creator.**

 **A Small Lakeside town**

"You sure this is the place?" A figure asked, observing the seemingly quiet lake.

"Yep. Suzaku's information was pretty spot on in terms to the murders happening recently in the town." the second shorter figure replied, getting off of the sidecar that composed the duo's motorcycle they had driven on. "And if the layout from this map is correct, no guarantees there-"

"Especially with how spacey those kids were-" the first started before the second cut them off.

"They were ten year old kids who were bored out of their minds...and I think they're actually on to something here...the map has (crude) drawing of a cave not far from here. This might be where the grave sight was."

"Really?"

"Yep. Let's get moving."

* * *

"Come on Lisa!" a man said, gently pulling his girlfriend up a rock that overlooked the lake.

"Easy Chet, I'm not going anywhere and we still have most of the night!" the girl teased.

"But we get the best view of the lake up here!' the man said showing his girlfriend the moonlit lake expanding from the bank of the forest behind them. "It's amazing right?"

"Yeah…" The girl breathed out, taking in the view. "Great…"

Chet turned to stare at his girlfriend, noting the bright-blue bikini that hugged her curves. Lisa noticed her boyfriend's stare and smirked, arching her hip ever so slightly to give him a better look.

"Seems to me like that's not the only view you find interesting…" she cooed, moving closer to him. Chet grinned sheepishly as his girlfriend pressed herself up against him. Chet wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Definitely not…" he said, bringing the girl in for a heated kiss.

Unbeknownst to the couple, a shadowy figure slowly marched up the rockface, his heavy boots being muffled by the sandy ground around them. His silver machete glinted in the light of the twisted and deformed moon high above them.

 **SNAP!**

The couple broke from their makeout session at the sudden noise and turned to see a massive hulk of a man leaping up on them, machete aimed high.

 **SCHLUK!**

A warm and wet substance splattered over Lisa's face, stunning her for a brief moment as she looked down at her now blood soaked top. Disbelief formed on her face before she looked up to see her boyfriend, bisected from the head to pelvis by the man's machete. Said man turned to her, revealing blood red eyes behind a worn and bloody hockey mask.

"AAAIEEEEE!"

* * *

"Did you hear that?" a figure said, rising off the ground they had been kneeling on. A black warped Katana rested over his shoulder, its edge glistening with a dark crimson hue. The figure's left hand held what looked like a shattered skull, rotten and covered in dirt and dust.

"It sounds like it came from further down the lake!" a disembodied voice echoed out. "We need to hurry!"

"On it!" the first figure siad, sprinting out of the cave at a near inhuman speed.

* * *

"Ha...hah!" Lisa panted sprinting from her attacker as best she could over the difficult terrain that was the woods surrounding the lake. Behind her she could hear the snapping of trees and branches as her assailant stormed after her, slashing apart the trunk of a tree that caught his blade.

" _Children shouldn't run...only bad children run! Mother says so!"_

"Leave me alone!" Lisa shrieked stumbling over a root. The sudden loss of balance sent her tumbling down a hill, causing her to slice her calf on the side of an exposed rock. "GAH!" she screamed grasping her wounded leg before a shadow overtook her.

She looked up in horror upon realizing what was above her.

Her masked assailant lifted his machete over his head, the blood of her boyfriend still dripping off its serrated back. " _Mother says bad children need to be punished…"_ the figure rasped through his mask, eyes still burning with a crimson hue. " _And mother is always right!"_ The man brought the blade down, blood flying through the air as it connected.

"AAIEEE!"

 **CLANG!**

Lisa saw sparks fly as the murderer's blade crashed against that of another man's. "Mother this and mother that.." the figure said, bracing his katana against his back with the palm of his hand. The blade grinded against the machete, digging into the lesser metal while the screeching of the blades drowned out any sound the forest wood naturally have. "Hoshi...what was it you said about mommy's boys?"

"I hate them." a disembodied voice echoed from above the sword wielder. It took a moment before Lisa realized that the voice was coming from the man's sword.

"Ma'am." Lisa's eyes snapped to those of her savior, and for a moment, she was locked in a dead stare from a pair of emerald green eyes. "Please run as far as you can." with a slight grunt, the boy shoved back against his attacker's blade, pushing the machete off his weapon before spinning around to deliver a slash across the murderer's stomach.

Blood spewed into the the air, but Lisa paid it no mind as she stumbled from her spot, crawling as fast as she could to flee from the ensuing fight. She ignored everything, the clashing of metal and the sickening sound of flesh being sliced open.

"Touma! She's gone!"

"Good!" the man said, leaping away from a sword slash that would have cut his arm. "Let's split!" the figure dashed through the woods, his attacker following close behind.

" _Bad children need to be punished...mothe-!"_

"Oh shut up!" the swordsman barked, skidding to a stop once he had exited the woods, allowing the moonlight to illuminate his features. The swordsman readied himself, lowering the sword so it rested below his waist and behind his left leg, blade held up. The moonlight helped the murderer see his pray clearly for the first time.

In front of him stood a young man, barely sixteen with greyish, almost silver, hair and emerald green eyes. His young face was hardened into a scowl as he glared at his attacker. His attire consisted of a pair of faded black jeans with dark brown shoes locked into the sandy shore of the lake. A heavy blue jacket rested over a plain white shirt while a grey and black scarf was wrapped around his neck.

"Jason Voorhees! Your soul has been twisted and corrupted by the acts of murder and consumption of human souls! As a meister of the DWMA and representative of Lord Death, YOUR SOUL IS MINE!" The teen lunged forward, dragging his katana up into the air, flinging a pile of dirt into Jason's face.

Jason swung his machete through the offending cloud, cleaving it in two. But no sign of the teen remained. The crunching of sand behind him was the only warning Jason got. Spinning around, he was too late to stop the sword from cleaving his left arm off his body, sending the appendage hurtling across the lakeside until it splashed into the water.

" _GRAAH!"_ Jason screamed, swinging his machete at his attacker.

"Touma!" the disembodied voice echoed out.

"I see it!" Touma responded, raising the katana to block the attack. Still the strength behind the blow sent him skidding back on the sand. "Damn…" Touma hissed, swapping the katana to his left hand to flex his slightly numb right arm. "This guys is slow and has no skill in swordplay...but his powers as a juggernaut are high...can't let this drag out…"

"Touma...be careful." the voice echoed. Touma tossed the katana back to his right. "Don't worry Hoshi. I've got an idea...a pretty twisted and sick one, but given the kishin I'm dealing with, I'll live with it."

" _Mother says I need to kill bad children! And you are bad! Bad children can't be in this lake!"_

Touma glared at the man turned kishin. "Your mother...you're referring to the the witch of the Crystal Lake, correct?"

" _My mother-"_

"You're mother is dead!" Touma barked. "She was an evil witch that tortured and killed children for her own sick experiments! And to punish her, the people of this town killed her only child, a young boy, by drowning him in the lake! You, Jason Voorheese! It was wrong of those people to kill you for your mother's crimes, but murdering innocents for the sins of the past cannot stand! And to further stain your soul, your mother resurrected your corpse to fulfill her sick vengeance! Giving her own life to do so!"

" _My mother still lives! She tells me what is right and I-"_

"You're in denial." Touma hissed, reaching his hand into his jacket's pocket. From the article of clothing Touma produced the old and withered skull from the cave.

" _M-mother?!"_ jason roared.

"Pretty disgusting." Touma muttered, keeping the skull in front of him. "Making a shrine to worship your mother's remains while offering the corpses of your kills."

" _My...my mother-!"_

Touma flexed his fist, crushing the skull in his hand. "Mommy's not here anymore, Jason."

Rage flooded the murderers mind, drowning out all cognitive thought with the sole desire to murder the boy in front of him. " _RAAAAHHHH!"_

Jason swung his blade towards the desecrator of his mother's corpse, but the teen didn't try to block the attack. Instead, he hurled his katana up into the air, sending it spinning above them, before catching Jason's machete between the palms of his hands.

" **Soul Menace!"** Touma screamed, projecting his soul-wavelength directly through Jason's blade and into his body, the shock from the blow hit jason like a ton of bricks. Jason's muscles stiffened as his body seized. It felt like his soul was being tazed from the inside out.

"Hoshi!"

"Incoming!" the sword screamed, imbedding itself into Jason's shoulder, gravity did the rest, allowing the blade to sink into the back of Jason's shoulder piercing straight into his rib-cage.

" _GRUH!"_

"This is it!" Touma roared flipping over to Jason's side. Slamming into the remains of Jason's left arm, Touma pivoted over it, grabbing Hoshi by her handle before pulling down on the blade, ripping it out of Jason's body while simultaneously slicing his rib-cage in two.

Blood erupted into the air before fading away. The remains of Jason's corpses began to unravel like thread before binding together into a glowing red orb that hovered where Jason once stood.

"Ha…" Touma breathed out, slumping down to a knee. "That makes kishin egg soul number 68...right Hoshi?"

"Yep!" the katana replied. Touma held the blade out and straight up before dropping it, allowing the weapon to resume her human form. Touma watched as his weapon partner's shape changed from a jagged and frightening sword into a tall and curvaceous woman. Touma blushed as Hoshi's human form came into full view.

The seventeen year-old girl in front of him was at least three inches taller than he was with long purple hair ending just before her waist in a ponytail. She wore a pair of form fitting black pants that showed off her long legs before ending at a pair of brown combat boots. She wore a black sleeveless sweater like top that hugged her large breasts and highlighted her slim waist and wide hips.

Touma watched as she stretched, trying his best not to gawk as his partner's breast jiggled slightly in that top that he loathed (inwardly loved). She bent her hips back and forth, making her partner eye her shapely rear for longer than he should have.

The blush on Touma's cheeks deepened as he continued to ogle his weapon partner. "Touma!" she barked snapping him out of his lust-induced trance.

"Y-yeah?" he asked nervously. ' _Oh for the love of death please don't tell me she caught me staring!'_ he inwardly pleaded.

"Give me some warning before you throw me like that! If I wasn't in weapon form I could've hurled!" she moaned.

"S-sorry, Hoshi, it was a spur of the moment decision! I promise I won't do it again without warning you!" he pleaded.

Hoshi pouted at him for a moment, cheeks puffed up in a way that Touma could only describe as adorable. Her pout immediately disappeared as she grabbed the shorter teen by the shoulders and pulled him into a hug. "Oh I can't stay mad at you!" she cooed, embracing her meister. Due to the height difference, this act had the unfortunate(?) effect of shoving Touma right into her well-developed chest.

' _So soft…"_ Touma inwardly sighed in bliss, a blush spreading across his cheeks again as the soft mounds pressed against his face. Touma's secret desire to stay in this position was only rivaled by his need for oxygen. Before he could even muffle a cry of need, Hoshi broke the hug slightly, allowing his nose and mouth to rise away from her heavenly chest.

Touma stared up at his weapon partner with flushed cheeks. "Touma…" the older girl purred out seductively, sending a pleasurable chill down the teen's spine and to a certain other spot. Touma stared up at her smiling face, her cheeks lightly tinted red as she gave him a heart-stopping smile. "That was really impressive…" she cooed.

"U-um...t-thanks…" Touma muttered his words coming out in slight jumbles from the way his partner was behaving. "B-b-b-but-"

"But what~?" Hoshi asked, her smile never leaving her face.

"T-t-t-the k-k-kishin e-egg is j-j-just sitting there…"

"Well technically it's floating." Hoshi giggled, breaking eye-contact with her meister to look at tonight's prize. "But you're right." she said releasing Touma from her embrace. Ignoring her meister's fluster state she sauntered over to the floating soul of malevolence before grabbing its by the wisp-lik tip and holding it over her mouth. She parted her lips slightly before placing it upon her lips. In one smooth motion she slurped it down, licking her lips as she let out a satisfied sigh of pleasure. "Oooh~!" she purred. Shivering in delight as she felt the pleasant sensation of power coursing through her body.

Touma ignored the way his partner writhed, doing his best to block out the tempting sight of her swinging her hips back in forth in an enticing manner by turning away from her. "We should probably report back to the academy."

"Oh Touma~!" Hoshi cooed out. Touma stiffened up as he felt a soft pair of breasts press up against the back of his head, causing his blush to return full force, a pair of slender yet strong arms coiled over his shoulders, interlocking below his neck in a gentle embrace. "Do we have to~?" she whined in that adorable manner of hers, blowing warm air into his ear. Touma shivered, doing his best to ignore the reaction she was causing his body to have. "It's so pretty out on the lake tonight...we could just spend the evening here...in each other's company…" she whispered.

Touma's blushed deepened as a myriad fantasies invaded his mind. Summoning all of his willpower, Touma gently pried her hands off his shoulders. "N-no...we need to report back to lord death." He quickly walked off in the direction of their motorcycle. He didn't dare look back at her, not trusting himself to control his hormones if he did.

Hoshi pouted behind him for a moment before realizing that her meister was walking in a strange way. His steps were a little uneven, almost as if he was adjusting to a limp or something. She slowly followed after him, slight concern welling in the corners of her mind. ' _Is he hurt? I didn't see him catch any blows to his legs, and the running we did shouldn't have affected him negatively...is he tired? Is this a side-effect from stopping Jason's final attack or-!'_ Hoshi's train of thought stopped as she finally put two and two together. A light blush found its way onto her cheeks, before a happy smile tugged at her lips. ' _Poor Touma...I think I teased him a bit too hard. I wish he'd just let me finish...then neither of us would be so...bothered.'_ she grumbled inwardly, forcibly blocking the fantasy she desperately wanted to fulfill with her meister.

Touma stopped at their bike before breathing onto its windshield. He quickly scribbled in some numbers into the fog on the glass before mumbling to himself. "42-42-564, whenever you want to knock on Death's door." The glass began to hum and rippled, displaying a dim room with white platform surrounded by what looked like wire-framed grave markers in a barren desert. "Hello?" Touma asked. "Lord Death?"

"Hello Touma." a dark cloaked figure emerged from the side of the mirror. The figures body was almost completely composed of black robes that seemed to jut out of his body in weird angular spikes. A cartoonish skull mask completed Death's ensemble. "I assume you're mission was a success?"

"Yes sir." Hoshi declared walking up to stand side-by-side with her meister. "We took care of the Slasher of Crystal Lake! And I ate my 68th Kishin egg!"

Death clapped his oversized white hands together, eyes squinting in what the two could probably guess was a smile. "Wonderful! You two are progressing so well!"

"Indeed." A Sultry voice agreed from off screen. Death moved aside slightly as another figure slowly approached the mirror the two were communicating through. The woman who appeared was the definition of the Sexy Teacher look. The woman in view was a tall, well endowed woman with black hair bearing a streak of scarlet that hung over one of her deep purple eyes. The bangs were further framed by a pair of glasses that rested over the woman's beautiful face. Her clothing consisted of a black business blazer that left a portion of cleavage exposed, including a peek of her black bra. Her lower attire consisted of a form-fitting pencil skirt that curved over the flare of her hip and stopped a little before her mid-thigh where it was met by a pair of purple stockings that led down to black high heels. The pen and clipboard in her hand only further exemplified the teacher quality of the woman in question.

"Hello Ms. Cassandra!" Hoshi cheered upon seeing the second in command of the DWMA.

The attractive woman gave a slight smile and a wave to her student. "Hello Hoshi. I hope you're behaving yourself."

"Of course!" Hoshi cheered, wrapping her arms around Touma and pulling him into another hug. Touma's blush heightened as his cheek was pushed into his weapons gifted chest. "I've been taking good care of my Touma~!" she cooed, her voice and face taking on some seductive qualities. "Isn't that right Touma~!"

Her meister blushed under the seductive gaze she was giving him as he tried in vain to come up with words. "H-H-Hoshi! D-don't say things like t-that! P-people will get the wrong idea!"

"Oh…" Cassandra smirked, "Touma, such a naughty boy you are, seducing your weapon like that...quite scandalous…"

"N-no!" Touma stuttered. "I-i-it's not like that Ms. Cassandra! We h-haven't done anything like that!"

"Oh really?" Cassandra purred. "But how can I trust a wolf in sheep's clothing...I might just have to punish you for seducing my student."The flirtatious way she said punishment pretty much informed Touma that it had a different meaning than detention.

By now Touma's face was burning a bright red, steam pouring out of his ear like a tea kettle. Thankfully, Lord Death decided to give the boy mercy. "Now now girls, let's not cook the dear boy, he looks like he's about to overheat."

"Very well, m'lord." Cassandra said, still wearing a slight smile.

"Okay…" Hoshi pouted, releasing her meister from her hug quite reluctantly. Touma tried his best to compose himself, failing miserably as he looked like a hot mess with his now disheveled clothes and flushed face.

Death, thankfully, ignored it. "Well, while I'm happy you two have gathered another Kishin egg soul, we have another mission for you."

"So soon?" Hoshi asked. Even Touma was surprised. Normally they were given at least a day's reprieve as One-Star Meisters. "Is it another Kishin soul?"

"No." death replied. "This is much more challenging. You two will be going after a witch."

"WHAT?!" the two shouted.

"Maybe we should specify, m'lord." Cassandra interjected. "You two will not be hunting a witch, merely performing reconnaissance."

"Oh...Touma sighed, relieved that they wouldn't be hunting down one of the more powerful adversaries the DWMA had antagonized in the last few hundred years. "So its info gathering?"

"In a sense, yes." Cassandra confirmed, holding her clipboard in front of her. "We received strange reports of widespread forest destruction such as fires and earthquakes happening in a town not too far from you. Such sudden destruction could only be caused by witchcraft. We need you to enter the woods and locate the Witch's hideout, then report back. You do not need to engage and should only use violence as a last resort, understood?"

The two students saluted. "Yes Ma'am!"

* * *

Death and Cassandra watched as the mirror's image died out, replacing it with their own reflections. "You think the information is accurate?" Cassandra asked, turning to look at Death.

"If the Crimson witch is there, we need to know. If that is the case, we'll deploy a team of meisters to eliminate her."

"Someone like her...she'll be a powerful opponent. You need at least three 2-star meisters on the elimination team...and a 3-star meister to lead them. I'll reach out to Keith and Benjamin. Mary is still in the city and Martha's mission should be wrapping up soon."

"Excellent. Please inform them of the situation and have them meet here as soon as possible. And what of the other two meister we have on Kishin Missions right now?"

"Elise and Hashiko have just deployed to their chosen city and Rio and Sasha have just been assigned their mission. They'll be leaving shortly and should reach their destination in little over a day.

"Alright. Then let's address the next set of issues...the Gathering of Witches."

* * *

 **VRRRROOOOMM!**

The roar of the motorcycle scared off the many crows gathering on the empty road that connected Crystal Lake to the next town, Harthrock. "You okay, Touma?" Hoshi asked, looking up from her sidecar to see her meister, eyes covered by a pair of brown motorcycle goggles.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Touma replied, speeding up the bike as they came closer to the spec that was the town of Harthrock.

"I know how you feel about witches." Hoshi mumbled. Despite the roar of engine next to her, Touma could still hear her.

"Margaret was different from other witches. She was able to resist the call of destruction that most of them are subject to."

"But a witch was still your mentor…"Hoshi said. "You told me once...that you hated humans more than witches." Touma's grip tightened on the handlebars. "You don't prejudge witches...that's something I like about you…" Touma forced his cheeks to remain neutral, otherwise they'd be turning red. "But...as your partner I can't let you hesitate in a fight-"

"But we're not fighting." Touma interrupted. "Our job is recon. If a witch is there, we leave and contact lord Death."

"But if we do end up in a fight-"

"Then I'll fight." Touma declared. "If it means protecting you like I promised, then I'll fight a witch, even if she's innocent." Hoshi blushed from the statement but looked away. "I know how to put my emotions aside, Hoshi. You and the others helped change my mind about people...so I'll protect you no matter what."

* * *

 **DWMA**

"Let's see…" a boy with a brown beanie and green and white sweatshirt with a snow pattern etched across the top and bottom. A pair of brown cargo pants reached to just before his ankles, leading down to his brown shoes. The boy's black hair peeked through the beanie, hanging over his hazel eyes. The 14 year old boy looked at his backpack, rummaging through his contents to make sure he had everything set. "Sasha? You got everything you need?"

Satisfied with what he had in his pack, he turned around to his companion a maid about the same height as him but 2 years his senior. The woman was dress in the attire fitting of a maid with a long black skirt that reacher the ankles of her thigh-high boots and ended with white frills. A black vet rested over a white blouse that rested over her petite frames while her black hair was done up in two buns on opposite sides of her head. A white and black maid bonnet and black gloves completed her ensemble.

"I have all of my belongings Rio. I am ready to depart when you are." she replied curtly in an almost robotic manner. The boy named Rio frowned at her for a moment before sighing.

"Okay...let's go. We'll catch the train and head out of the city towards Clover. From there we'll…" he trailed off upon seeing a young man of about 19 in a black and grey business suit standing at the top of the steps that created the massive path leading to Death's academy. The man had black hair that went down to his neck with streaks of grey running through them. His yellow eyes bared down on the youth from the half-mile distance that separated them.

Sasha turned around, curious as to what made her meister stop mid-sentence. She paused momentarily as her own yellow eyes met those of the man's. The two stared at each other for almost a minute before them and turned around, walking out view. Sasha stared after him for a moment before turning back to Rio. "I apologize for my brother's behavior, Rio." she said once again in her robotic tone.

"Hey, you don't have to apologize to me Sasha." Rio replied with a small smile. "Let's get going."

"Understood." she replied walking in pace with him.

* * *

"You're not even gonna say goodbye, Marcus?" A man with graying hair and blue eyes asked the young man with yellow eyes. His attire consisted of a long black gentleman's coat resting over a grey vest and black tie. A pair of slacks reach down into well worn brown boots.

Marcus continued to walk past the man as the latter stared after the two students heading towards the train station. "There's no point. Sasha knows her objectives. There's nothing left for me to say to her."

"Pretty cold." the man replied as he heard the younger man continue to distance himself from the steps. "Have you always been this cold towards family?"

"What happens in my family, Tobias, is my business alone. Stick to teaching classes...Professor." Marcus said as he walked into the academy's doors, leaving his former teacher alone at the top of the steps.

Tobias sighed, looking up at the cloudless sky. "Even after becoming a Deathscythe...he still has so much left to learn. Good luck handling him, Lauren."

* * *

 **Forest of Harthrock**

Touma stepped through the underbrush of the forest as the sun began to set. "Sucks that the trip took most of the day." Hoshi groaned, stepping over a fallen branch. "It would be easier to navigate these woods during the day."

"Yeah…" Touma agreed, pushing past a branch and holding it until Hoshi past him. "But then the witch could see us coming. Shadows are our friend in this case."

"Roger that." Hoshi replied allowing Touma to take the lead again. The two students traversed deeper into the woods until they saw a plume of smoke rising above the trees closer to the mountain that split the forest clean in two. "Is that a fire?"

"Maybe…" Touma muttered. "Let's get closer."

The pair raced through the woods, pushing through the branches and foliage that obscured their vision until they came across a cliff that overlook a large clearing that met a pond about a quarter mile down the mountain's face. In the middle of the clearing was a small little cottage that was made of crimson metal halfway embedded in the ground. Moss and trees had grown over its back, wrapping around it in a twisted fashion.

"How long has this been here?" Hoshi asked, looking to Touma.

"Hard to say. With the way the dirt, moss and plant life are growing on it, I'd like to say years. But certain witches have magic that can affect nature, its possible this witch has some such ability, maybe to mask her hideout." The smoke the two had seen was spewing out of the chimney attached to the house's side.

"Should we move in closer?" Hoshi asked, kneeling down on a knee to take a closer look over the edge. Touma crouched down as well, thinking the situation over. Hoshi glanced at her silent partner, watching as his emerald eyes stared off aimlessly. Hoshi knew he was deep in thought and stayed silent, letting her eyes wander around the area until they fell upon a strange set of rocks nestled in the corner of the cliff, nearly hidden behind a bush.

The rocks were arranged in a strange fashion almost resembling a face. Hoshi silently moved towards the rock, squinting as she made out several strange carvings that adorned their surface. As Hoshi stepped closer, the rocks began to glow.

* * *

 **Inside the House**

"Ah…" a female voice cooed, lifting her leg out of the warm bath that enveloped her body, obscuring it from view. "Such boring days...a fire here...earthquake there...it's hard to stave off one's urges…" she moaned.

 **KKKRRRMMM!**

"Hmmm?" the woman questioned, standing up from the water to reveal her figure in all its glory.

 **KRRRSSHH!**

The glass window above her shattered as a teen with grey hair and emerald eyes wielding warped black and red katana was sent careening into her bathroom, landing on the ground with a roll before propping himself up, prepared to retaliate against the creature that had attacked him.

The woman examined him carefully as he rose from the ground, brandishing his weapon. His eyes darted around the room until they stopped upon her, locking in place as they widened.

"Oh my…" the woman purred seductively, eyeing the teen up in down like a lion eyeing a gazelle. "How did this happen I wonder?"

* * *

 **Moments Earlier**

The rock burned a bright red before the light transferred in between the rocks that looked like eyes, flashing crimson as Hoshi reeled back in shock. "Touma!" she shouted.

"Hm?" her meister asked, breaking from his thoughts to look at his partner. He caught his stumbling partner by the hips as she backed into him. "Hoshi?! What's wrong-!" his question ceased as the face made of rocks began to rise with the ground.

The cliff beneath the pair's feet shifted an warped like it was being pulled up. The duo lost their balance, tumbling down the the now hill like slope as it continued to rise.

"OOF!"

"AH!"

The two landed on the ground unceremoniously before looking up at their would-be attacker. What greeted them was a massive humanoid hill covered with trees, rocks and bushes. Touma's eyes widened in response, grabbing Hoshi's hand. His partner immediately began to take her weapon form, transforming from a purple haired beauty into a deadly katana. "That's a land golem!"

"Was it a trap?" Hoshi asked, voice echoing from her sword form.

"It was probably a sentry...to have something like this...we're dealing with a powerful witch!"

"Touma move!"

Touma saw the incoming fist as it hurtled towards him, not taking any chances, the meister leapt to the side, allowing the attack to smash into the ground, uprooting rocks and trees all around them.

"Gah!" Touam hissed as debris bounced off his skin and branches slapped across his clothes. "Margaret told me about these things…" Touma muttered.

"Did your teacher happen to mention how to kill it?"

"Yeah, actually, she did!" Touma replied leaping back to avoid another slammed Hoshi into the ground, bracing himself from the following shockwave as it rippled across the area. "Gruh...need to target the ritual site where it-Crap!"

The ground beneath Touma's feet ruptured as the land golem ripped it arm free of the ground, fully uprooting the area and sending Touma flying into the air.

"Brace yourself Touma!" Hoshi screamed as they fell through a glass window near the top of the crimson house. The glass structure shattered on impact, allowing the sword meister to slam into the bathroom floor painfully. Touma shrugged off the impact rolling to his feet and preparing for any retaliation from the house's magic defenses if it had any besides the golem.

Touma's eyes widened upon seeing the figure in the bathroom's tub, water dripping down her body. His cheeks burned bright red as he involuntarily drank in the woman's appearance.

The female before him was a tall crimson eyed woman with short blonde hair that ended just before her shoulders, framing her gorgeous face that took on a seductive look as she realized her opponent was ogling her. Touma couldn't stop himself as his eyes traveled down below her face, watching as the water dripping from her hair traced down her buxom chest that had to be as big as Hoshi's or even Cassandra's. The woman cocked her shapely hips to the side, allowing Touma to see her long smooth legs and impressive rear.

"Oh my…" the woman's seductive voice purred out, making Touma's heart skip a beat at just how sultry it sounded. "How did this happen?"

"TOUMA!" Hoshi wailed.

"Huh?" Touma mumbled snapping out of ogling at Hoshi's scream.

"Stop ogling the witch!" Touma blushed even harder, realizing he had been staring at his opponent in such a shameful way, what was worse was Hoshi had seen him do it too. He was never going to live this down.

"Oh?" the witch cooed. "Who says he has too?" Touma quickly turned his head away from the woman, tactical suicide if his mind had been functioning properly, but do to his hormones, it wasn't. "Normally I'd kill an intruder who dared to interrupt my bath, but since its an adorable little meister, I'll make the exception." she said, licking her lips. "Especially when he's as cute as you are…" she added.

"Um...uh…" Touma mumbled, doing his best to look anywhere but at his naked opponent.

"Stop messing with my Touma!" Hoshi wailed. Her meister could've sworn he saw a tick mark appear on the side of his sword.

"Hmph." the witch smirked, stepping out of the tub fully as a crimson light floated around her before collapsing onto her skin. It glowed a faint red, before fading away to reveal her new attire.

Touma was at first relieved upon seeing what looked like clothes through the steam, but that hope quickly burned away as quick as it came as he saw her revealing attire.

"My name is Ingrid, The Crimson Witch. What's your name cutie?" Touma would have responded if not for the distraction that was Ingrid's outfit. The Crimson Witch wore a dark-red one-piece leotard that was wrapped around her neck but split down the middle from her chest, giving her opponent a generous view of cleavage as well as revealing the skin of her belly, only stopping just before her waist. Her hips were on full display as the leotard did nothing to cover them, leaving that to the thigh-high stockings that stopped just a few inches above the knee. Her arms were bare until her elbows where a pair of long crimson shawls trailed down her arms and touched the ground, right next to her crimson high-heeled shoes. A red witches hat with what looked like an open mouth completed her ensemble.

"Uh-I-I-it-I-!" Touma stuttered until Hoshi jumped out of his hand, taking human form.

"Hey you!" She shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Ingrid. "Stop flirting with MY Touma!"

"Who says he's yours?" Ingrid asked, that confident smirk still gracing her face.

Hoshi grabbed the startled Touma by his shoulders and pulled him into a possessive hug, once more pressing him into her chest. "Touma is mine! I'm not giving him over to some blonde-haired bimbo!"

Ingrid didn't falter in the slightest, eyes turning towards Touma, who's embarrassed face could still be seen, even as he was pressed into his weapon's chest. "Is this true, boy? Do you belong to this woman?"

Touma's blush deepened at her implication. "W-wha-?! N-no! N-no I d-don't! W-w-we're not l-like that!"

"Oh…" Ingrid purred, cocking her hip to the side and bending at the waist slightly, trailing her hand down her chest, drawing the pair's eyes to her impressive bust. "So, Touma, does that mean you want to belong to me?"

Touma sputtered at that. "W-w-w-w-what?! N-n-no! I-I-I mean I can't! I-I shouldn't!"

Hoshi's eyes began to water like a puppies as she pulled Touma's face so it looked at her "B-but Touma...y-you said you would always b-be my side…" she pleaded.

Touma's emerald eyes locked with his teary-eyed partner's teal ones that seemed to bore into his soul with their hurt look. ' _Oh...my heart…'_ Touma inwardly moaned, unable to bare the sad look Hoshi was giving him.

"So?" Ingrid asked, standing straight up, arms folded under her chest. "What'll it be, cutie? Do you want to leave her and be mine?"

Touma broke free of Hoshi's hug, startling her for a second before he grabbed her hand in his own. "N-no!"he declared, giving Ingrid a heated glare, admittedly it didn't seem that intimidating as his face was still burning red in embarrassment. "I'm Hoshi's!"

Ingrid's smile didn't falter while Hoshi's cheeks lit up in a blush, heart pounding in her chest. "Touma…" she whimpered with a smile.

"So you do belong to her." Ingrid mused, smile never leaving her.

"Yes!" Touma declared. Right before his face heated up in embarrassment as he realized how he had worded his response. "W-w-wait a minute I meant I'm her meister! Her meister!"

"Touma!" Hoshi squealed in delight, tackling him into a hug. "You're the best!" she replied

"H-Hoshi!" Touma muttered, face once again beginning to steam. "J-j-just transform already!"

"Roger!" she happily complied, lighting up and morphing into her katana form, landing in her flustered meister's hand.

 **RRRRMMMBBBL!**

"Guh!" Touma glanced up to see the Land Golem looming over them. "Damn...that thing is still here."

"Ugh…" Ingrid groaned, looking up at the 'protector' of her domain with disdain. "It interrupts my bath for this? I swear Titania's golems are more of a nuisance than a boon." She then looked back to Touma before smirking. "Tell you what cutie, if you manage to defeat my land golem, I'll excuse the intrusion into my home."

"And I'm assuming if we lose, this thing will kill us?" Touma surmised, eyes flickering between the crimson beauty and her massive guard dog.

"That is his job." Ingrid mused. "Good luck."

The golem reared back its hand, bundling it into a fist, before sending its hurtling back down to Earth, Touma leapt to the side, allowing the attack to devastate the rest of house. Touma landed on the ground outside the demolished building, watching as the giant lumbered out of the debris, staring at its target as he brandished his weapon.

"Hmmm…" Ingrid mused, floating down onto a ridge overlooking the battle. A wave of crimson energy danced off her finger tips, slicing a tree at its base, creating a stump for her to sit on. She leaned forward, an amused smile resting on her lips. "This should be fun…"

Touma leapt back from another attack, slamming Hoshi into the ground, bracing themselves for the ensuing shockwave as it ripped across the clearing, uprooting trees and rocks, sending them flying away from the area.

Touma pulled his katana from the ground leveling it on his left forearm as he locked his emerald eyes on the golem in front of them. "Hoshi...I'm gonna need to use your Blood Arts."

"Touma-"

"We don't have a choice." he snapped. "We'll resonate and perform the first level-"

"Only the first." Hoshis stated firmly. "If you try to go beyond that, I'll cut you off, I don't care about the feedback from resonance failure, so don't cross me. Got it?"

Touma smirked. "Yes ma'am." he replied before closing his eyes. Inside her weapon space, Hoshi did the same. Touma's breathing slowed as he readied his soul along with Hoshi's. When his eyes opened they glowed a bright green. "Let's go!"

"Right!"

The duo screamed in unison. "SOUL RESONANCE!"

 **BAADOOM!**

Instantly, the ground they stood on imploded into a miniature crater as a massive sphere of wispy green energy enveloped Touma. The sphere itself seemed to be outlined with a face and hairstyle reminiscent of Touma's while strands of crimson lightning encircled the manifestation of his soul, know doubt belonging to Hoshi's own soul.

Ingrid watched from the ridge, grinning as she saw the combined might of the pair's souls resonating. "Oooh…" she shivered in anticipation. Her smile grew as she saw the red ring surrounding Touma's emerald eyes. "I love that color…"

The golem lumbered forward, swinging its arm down in an effort to crush the comparatively small meister beneath it. But its hand hit nothing but soft dirt.

"Nice dodge." Ingrid smiled as her eyes locked on where Touma and his weapon had disappeared to. The duo re-appeared above the golem's arm, plummeting onto it with a quick roll, Touma sprinted up the appendage at an inhuman speed.

"Hoshi!" he yelled.

"Blood Arts: Red Rush High, active." Touma rushed up the limb of his aggressor, blood pounding through his veins at an accelerated rate, fueling his body with more oxygen and thus, improved movement. He could feel his heart pound in his chest as the accelerated rate pushed the organ to its limit.

The golem lifted its arm from the ground in an attempt to shake the young teen off of it. Touma's foot slipped a sthe goliath shook its arm, ruining his footing. He felt gravity take its hold on him as he began to fall.

Hoshi's next words assured him that he wouldn't. "Blood Arts: Crimson Thread!" Touma cringed as spikes burst from Hoshi's handle, piercing his flesh and draining blood from his now wounded palm. The crimson fluid rushed up the blade before peeling off of it like thread. Its needle like tip fired from the sword, striking the golem's face.

The monster paid it no mind as its left hand reached for the falling duo. Touma smirked, pulling on the thread and propelling him up into the air, dodging the golem's hand and landing right on its face.

The golem had no time to react as a slash across the face caused a stream of red cracks to spread across its face. "Weakness of a land golem, the ritual site, which happens to be your face!" a second strike followed the first, and then a third, and then a fourth. Over and over, Touma sliced the stones that composed the face-like ritual site, destroying the flow of magic that held the monster together.

Touma raised Hoshi one more time as the pair screamed in unison. "DIE!" In one fell swoop, Touma plunged his sword deep into the monster's skull, pushing the blade deeper until the hilt could go no further. The golem's movements ceased immediately as spider-webs of red cracks raced across its patchwork body, stone, wood and dirt crumbling as it body began to disintegrate.

The legs gave first, causing the creature to buckle on its knees, the appendages crumbling to dust upon impact with the ground. The rest of the torso followed shortly. Touma, pushed off the crumbling face, springing back into the air until they landed on the ground, watching as their opponent finished breaking down mid-fall.

Touma fell to a knee, using Hoshi to brace himself. "Touma?" Hoshi asked, fear clear in her echo.

Touma gave her a reassuring smile. "J-just tired...and my hand hurts." he mumbled, looking at his now bleeding appendage.

"I'm sorry." Hoshi whined. "I don't want to hurt you." she moped.

Touma immediately regretted complaining as he heard the dejected tone in his partner's voice. "N-no! It's okay Hoshi really! It's just a few cuts! Papercuts really! Y-you know I've had worse than this!" he pleaded, desperately trying to cheer up his now sad partner.

"You were amazing." a sultry voice purred in his ear. Touma's blood shot to his face a as pair of soft, feminine, hands began to caress his body. His eyes turned as far as they could to see Ingrid had somehow snuck up behind him and was now embracing him from behind, sliding her hands across his shoulder and down his chest, feeling him up. "You're very well built…" she whispered into his ear, taking great joy in the way his body started to tremble from her caresses. "Shame you wear such baggy clothing like this jacket…but despite that, that was a truly interesting display."

"Hey!" Hoshi screamed, drawing attention to her sword form. "What do you think you're doing you slu-UAAH!" while Hoshi had been ranting at their supposed enemy, Ingrid had slid her hand down Touma's shoulder and the whole length of his arm until it had reached his katana. Now her hand was lovingly stroking the back of Hoshi's weapon form.

"That compliment was to you too you know...both of you...I got chills just from watching..."

"U-u-uh...u-um…" Hoshi mumbled. If Touma wasn't so flustered himself, he would have been greatly amused by this turn of events.

Ingrid tightened her hold on Touma, her hand sliding back up his chest until it rested under his chin. She tilted his head back so it would face him as she gave him a sultry smile. She pressed her chest up against his back, enjoying how he tensed up at the feeling of her soft chest rubbing against his back. "So tell me...do you want to belong to me?" she whispered, her crimson eyes boring into Touma's emerald ones. "The offer extend to your weapon too. Think about it…" she playfully licked her lips, enjoying the feeling of having his eyes locked on her movements.

Ingrid spun around until she was face to face with a blushing Touma. Again her hand found its way under his chin, pulling him closer to her as she pressed her body up against him, wrapping her left leg around his right. Her left hand fell behind his neck, gently tracing her hand up and down, causing the boy's hair to stand on end. "A cute little meister and his weapon partner...with a sexy witch...think of all the fun we could have…"

"I-I-I-I-I-!" Touma babbled. Ingrid simply smirked, finding his dazed and red face absolutely adorable.

"Should I take that as a yes?" Ingrid whispered, inching her lips closer to Touma's.

"H-Hey!" Hoshi wailed snapping Touma out of his stupor and causing Ingrid to glance down at the frustrated weapon.

"Don't worry, Hoshi, was it? You're more than welcome to join in, I'm sure your meister would love that, isn't that right, Touma?"

"Wh-wha…?" the teen mumbled, still trying to regain his bearings whilst being caressed by the gorgeous blonde. "I-I-I-I d-don't think that she-I mean we sh-shouldn't-"

"Oh my, you are adorable." Ingrid smirked, releasing him from her grip and taking a step back.

Touma shook his head, doing his best to get his hormones under control from the erotic onslaught the temptress in front of him had unleashed on him. "W-why have you been causing disasters?" he demanded.

Ingrid shrugged her shoulders in a bored fashion. "I had little choice in the matter. Tell me, Touma, how much do you know about witches? You are a student of the DWMA, so you must have at least a basic education of us, but I sense old magic on you. It's a bit familiar, but I can't quite place it." Touma frowned at this. "I'm not the first witch you've ever encountered, am I?"

"I met one a long time ago." Touma replied, keeping his weapon leveled at the crimson beauty. Ingrid in response merely smirked a knowing grin. "What?" Touma muttered.

"Met huh? Tell me boy, did this meeting happen several times over the course of a few years? Or did it happen once in a more...intimate manner?" she made sure to emphasize the word 'intimate', causing Touma to blush again.

"O-of course not!" Touma barked.

Ingrid's smile never fell. "Then you must've spent an awful lot of time with a witch, so I assume you know more about them then you let on. Tell me, you know about the Instinct of Destruction, yes?"

"It's the pull of magic." Touma responded without pause. "It's what drives witches."

"Yes. A side-effect of being able to manipulate great quantities of magic. Most witches don't care about what they do when they satisfy that urge, but me on the other hand, well, I don't like unnecessary attention, so I satiate my urges on a manageable scale."

"Causing earthquakes and fires is manageable?!" Hoshi barked out.

"Well I think it's better than me just spontaneously obliterating a town. I don't dislike humans."

"You don't?" Touma questioned.

"Not really." Ingrid shrugged. "Many of them are detestable beings, but the rare few more than make up for that with how entertaining they can be...especially when they're like you two." she said, her voice turning sultry once again. Touma fought the blush that threatened to appear.

"So you're not an enemy of humans?" Hoshi asked.

Ingrid again shrugged. "I wouldn't say enemy...but don't write me off as some altruistic do-gooder. I'm only interested in those who have a penchant for entertaining me...like you two. Anyway, I'll forgive you for interrupting my bath, you certainly killed my boredom, but I need to go, can't live in a demolished house now. Tata…" she waved, starting down the path towards the woods.

"H-hey! You can't leave!" Touma shouted. Ingrid stopped turning her head with an amused smile.

"Oh, are you that infatuated by me?" she asked, turning fully to face her opponent. "I didn't realize you would fall for me so hard that you wouldn't want me to leave. You could still be mine you know."

"Th-that's not it at all!" Touma yelled in embarrassment.

Ingrid smirked. "My offer still stands."

"We're not taking your offer lady!" Hoshis snapped from her weapon form.

"But we're not letting you go!" Touma declared, dropping into a battle ready pose.

"Oh, you want me to remain here?"

Touma nodded. "Ideally."

"So you can report my whereabouts back to your precious Lord Death? And lead a squad of meisters to kill me?" Touma's face paled a little. He could feel the air grow hotter around him, and this time it didn't feel like it was his hormones playing tricks on him. "Just because I like you doesn't make me stupid. You're a meister working for the Grim Reaper, if you're mission wasn't to kill me outright, it was reconnaissance, so if you don't mind, I'll be taking my leave."

"We can't let you do that!" Hoshi exclaimed.

Ingrid frowned. "Oh really?"

Touma readied himself letting his soul settle on the same level as Hoshi's syncing their wavelengths to each other. "Who's going to stop me?" hot air ble into his ear. Touma leapt from his spot, spinning around to see Ingrid behind him.

"Wha-?!" he muttered turning back to the spot where she once stood. ' _She's fast!'_

"Where are you looking, Touma?" Ingrid sultry voice purred beside him.

"Guh!" Touma swung his blade to where he heard, slicing through empty space. Again the air around them began to burn. "Where is she?" he grumbled looking around frantically.

"Oh, can't you perform Soul Perception?" Again Touma swung his blade, just missing Ingrid who merely moved her head back, letting the weapon miss her neck with a smile. "Oh, I get it, you're afraid of using it in the middle of a fight." Touma cringed before lunging forward with his sword. Ingrid again moved back, dodging another slash aimed for her torso. "Not an unfounded fear…" she grinned.

"Damn it all!" Touma swore, leaping forward and past Ingrid, who was slightly surprised as he sailed past her. Touma slammed his feet into the ground before pivoting on his heel, swinging his blade back and slicing off a small portion of Ingrid's shawl.

The Crimson Witch sailed back, landing delicately on her high-heels as she examined the damage to her garment. "Tch." she hissed. "Now I have to get this fixed. Thank's a lot Touma."

Said meister again lowered his weapon behind his leg, blade-side up. Ingrid smirked, irritation from her wardrobe damaging sinking beneath the confidant grin she now bore."I knew you'd be fun."

Crackles of crimson energy began to raced up her fingertip and onto her arm. "Red, red, rain, riot and bring the pain!" she yelled, fling the lighting from her fingertips and sending it hurling towards Touma, said meister's eyes widened in fear before he leapt to the side, dodging the lightning bolt.

"That was close…" he grumbled. The hairs on the back of his neck rose before he spun around, blocking another crimson bolt with the flat of Hoshi's form.

"GAH!" Hoshi screamed.

"Hoshi?!" Touma exclaimed, holding weapon which was now smoking from the surprise attack. "Hoshi are you okay?!"

"I-I'm good…" she whimpered.

"Don't play the tough-girl act now, what was that?"

"A little trick I learned." Touma looked up at Ingrid as she smirked. "My crimson magic took me years to get it to this point. Despite its initial destructive capabilities, I tinkered with my magic until I found a way to deal damage directly to the soul. I believe you meisters have a similar ability, yes?"

Touma cringed. "It's a ranged soul menace…"

"Hope you don't take it too personally, cutie." she purred. "But I'm not about to fight meisters and demon weapons without a little advantage."

"I can take it, Touma." Hoshi whispered. Touma glanced down at his weapon, eyeing the reflection of his partner's face, and the determination in her eyes.

"Fine." he grimaced. Repositioning himself in his familiar sword stance, Touma readied himself for another attack. "Then let's kick it up a notch. You ready?"

"Do you have to ask?"

Touma shrugged, "It's just polite. I don't want to force you into something without your consent in the ma-"

"Touma!" Hoshi whined.

"Right,sorry!"

The duo once again screamed in unison. "SOUL RESONANCE!"

Immediately, Touma's body became coated in an aura of green with flashes of red spiraling off his body like mist. "Hoshi…" he growled.

"Blood Arts: Red Rush High: active." Touma grinned.

Ingrid smirked, raising her hand, now coated in crimson electricity, to block Touma's sword swing. "You are fast." Touma growled, putting more strength in the blade as it grinded against the witch's lightning. "But…" she blurred from his view, startling him as he lost resistance to his he felt a hand seize the back of his collar. "I'm faster!"

"Gah!" Touma wailed as he was flung across the clearing,slamming into the ground and tumbling to a stop. "Ugh…" he grunted before flipping forward, avoiding a high-heeled kick into the ground. Ingrid grinned as the ground beneath her foot shattered.

Touma rolled to his feet, gripping the bloody handle of his sword, letting the spikes dig into his palm. "Crimson Thread!" he shouted, hurling the tip of the newly formed wire towards their enemy. Ingrid moved to the side, dodging the attack with a smirk. The Crimson witch raised her hand in preparation for an attack before she heard the whistling of the thread rocketing back towards her.

 **BBZZZAAAP!**

Ingrid's body erupted in a flash of crimson electricity, eradicating the strand and sending the current directly into Hoshi's sword form, and right into Touma's body.

"GIAAHH!" they screamed, reeling back in pain. Touma gritted his teeth, bracing himself. ' _Get it together Touma!'_ he screamed in his 's when he saw Ingrid appearing in front of him, palm reeled back and crackling with electricity.

"Touma block!" Hoshi screamed.

He almost did, he could feel the blood rushing through his veins, accelerating his muscles to inhuman degrees of speed. On instinct he pulled Hoshi's form in front of him to block the incoming attack, until his eyes locked onto the crimson energy arcing across his teeth, Touma made his choice. "Fair warning Hoshi…" he grumbled.

"Huh?" his partner questioned as she felt herself being flung in the air. "No! TOUMA!"

Ingrid's palm struck home. Touma had crossed his arms, blocking the initial strike, but he caught the full force of her soul menace, feeling her magic tear through his watched in horror as her meister fell back, slamming into the ground where he lay motionless.

Hoshi's sword struck the ground before morphing in a flash of light. The now humanoid weapon sprinted towards her meister, ignoring Ingrid as she stared down at her opponent. Hoshi slid on her knees, grabbing Touma's prone body and gently lifting him into her arms.

"Touma? Touma?!" she cried, tears threatening to fall from her eyes as his body remained motionless. "No...no no no!" she screamed. She qucikly laid him down once more, placing her ear to his chest. Dead silence was all she heard. "No!" she quickly pulled open his jacket, throwing away his scarf before placing her hands on his chest.

Ingrid simply remained behind her, eyeing the two as the girl performed CPR, slamming her hands into his chest three times before planting her lips on her partners, breathing air into his lungs. Three more times she performed this routine, all the while the Crimson Witch just watched, her face neutral of any emotion.

"GAK!" Hoshi reeled back from Touma's lips as her meister hacked up blood. Fear swelled in her chest as the blood pooled out of Touma's mouth. She quickly tilted his head to the side, allowing the red liquid to seep out of his mouth before shallow breaths soon followed.

"Touma…" Hoshi sobbe din relief, feeling tears fall from her eyes, tracing down her cheeks until they splattered on the ground. She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes, slowly rising up. She turned towards Ingrid, eyes hidden behind her bangs. "You…" she growled.

Ingrid cocked her head to the side. "Yes, me."

Hoshi raised her eyes, letting Ingrid see the blood lust boiling beneath their teal surface. "You hurt Touma…" she hissed.

Ingrid nodded. "Yes I did."

"RAAH!"

Ingrid ducked underneath a blade swipe. The edge of Hoshi's arm had morphed into the blade of her katana. A kick followed suit, one that's heel knicked Ingrid's hair, slicing several strands of her blonde hair, she could see the girl's heel had developed a bladed edge as well. Ingrid flew back a few steps, brushing the sliced strands with a surprised glance. "Impressive...oh!" Ingrid blocked the slash from Hoshi, arm coated in crimson energy.

"YOU HURT TOUMA!" she screamed, breaking the lock before spinning on her heal, delivering a brutal spin kick to Ingrid's side. A barrier of crimson lightning took the blow in full. Hoshi's eyes narrowed in rage as she saw the energy wrap around the witch, forming a thin shining membrane of energy.

"You are good…" she cooed. "I get it...your meister has the skill to resonate with you, but your combat abilities are higher."

"Shut up!" Hoshi yelled, dashing forward with her blade arm again. Ingrid swatted the blow aside, lashing out with an electric palm that Hoshi dodged. The human weapon grabbed the woman's arm and pivoted with her hips, lifting the girl into the air before slamming her into the ground.

"GAH!"

Hoshi raised her sword arm while her left held the woman down. As she drove her blade down, a bolt of lightning coursed through her body, lighting every fiber of her being on fire in pain. "GIAAH!" another jolt launched her back.

"Ummm…" Ingrid groaned, sitting up rather casually. She stretched her arm, the one Hoshi had manhandled before rising off the ground. She strode over to the downed weapon as she hissed in pain, crimson energy racing along her body like a makeshift net. The light began to fade as Ingrid stood above her, glancing over to Touma's downed body. "You are quite tenacious, my dear Hoshi."

"Gruh…" the girl hissed, trying to stand.

Ingrid continued to stare at Touma. "He has so much potential you know. I beat him now because he's inexperienced. And I doubt he knew how to handle a witch with martial prowess like myself. I don't blame him though, so many witches don't like to get their hands dirty so they neglect their physical abilities."

Hoshi wobbled to her feet, forcing her mind to shrug off the pain."But me...well, don't tell your partner this, but I'm over 200 years old. You wish to know what someone as long lived as me does for fun?"

"I-I don't care!" hoshi roared stabbing at Ingrid who merely spun around the girl to dodge, wrapping one of her shawls over the girl's arm before twisting her around, throwing Hoshi off balance and onto the ground again.

"The answer is anything and everything. So I studied physical fighting to pass the time, and honestly, I like it. You on the other hand, you seem bred for it. Fighting for you is as easy as breathing for you, isn't it?"

Hoshi raised herself from the ground, bracing herself on her weaponized arm. "Were you…" Ingrid started. "No...I guess that doesn't matter. Your meister may lack some practical abilities in fighting a witch of my caliber, but he certainly possesses a keen mind and sharp eyes. Did you notice?"

"What?" Hoshi grumbled, finally managing to stand on her own feet again.

"My last attack on Touma, you thought you could block it, didn't you? You thought you could bare the brunt of the attack for him, not realizing just how dangerous an attack like that was with my power behind it." Hoshi's eyes narrowed. "Your meister clearly cares for you quite a deal if he was willing to take a hit like that rather than having his weapon take the fall. I wonder…" Ingrid mumbled, fingers dancing with her crimson magi as she pointed them over to Touma's body. Hoshi's eyes widened in horror.

"Are you that loyal to him?" Ingrid murmured

The demon katana lepa from her spot, but instead of charging the witch, she charged Touma. Ingrid smirked as her magic fired from her hand, shooting towards Touma.

"Blood Arts:" Hoshi muttered beneath her breath. "Red Rush High!" Instantly, her speed exploded, propelling her across the clearing faster than even Ingrid's attack, beating it to Touma, but not fast enough to move him. So Hoshi did the next best thing. The living weapon took the shot to the back. Pain raced up her spine as the magic ignited every nerve capable of feeling pain, leaving the girl unable to even scream as she collapsed near her partner.

"I guess you are." Ingrid mused, casually strolling up to the pair as Hoshi crawled on top of Touma, doing her best to shield the unconscious boy. Ingrid stood above them and amused smirk graced her lips.

"I-I-I w-won't let you...hurt...Touma…" Hoshi wheezed, glaring daggers at her opponent. Ingrid knelt down, cupping Hoshi's chin in her hand.

"I'm not going to dear...you two are some of the more interesting people I've met in the last decade. Now way am I going to kill you before you provide em with some serious amusement." Ingrid giggled. The Crimson Witch released her grip on Hoshi, brushing her hand through her purple hair. "Get stronger, both of you. You have so much...potential." Hoshi wish she could've ignored the sultry way the witch muttered her last word as she sashayed away from the two.

"Oh. One more thing darling," Ingrid said as she strode into the woods. "The offer I made for the two of you, it still stands. Be sure to tell Touma that for me." All Hoshi could do was glare as the crimson-dressed beauty disappeared into the underbrush.

"Guh…" Hoshi hissed, gripping her sides in pain. Her eyes glanced to Touma. His breathing had slowed but he still looked like he was in pain. Not that Hoshi could claim she was any better. The purple-haired beauty turned to the remains of the demolished, following the wreckage into the clearing until her eyes rested on a shard of glass just a few feet from her.

Hoshi turned back to Touma, stroking his cheek gently. "Hold on Touma…please." she whimpered, crawling away from her meister until she loomed over the shard of glass. Breathing down on the reflective surface, she quickly scribbled in several numbers, all the while chanting. "42...42...564...death's door…"

The glass rippled before the image of Death's room appeared on the screen. "I'm sorry, m'lord Death is currently out at the moment. How can I-Hoshi?!" Cassandra gasped as her brutalized student came into view. "What happened?!"

"M-Mrs. C-Cassandra...we need...help…"

* * *

 **End of Chapter one**

 **Hope you guys liked this chapter. I'll be combine elements of Soul Eater with elements from other similar franchises such as Witch Hunter (the manwha). If you have any ideas or suggestions, send a review or a PM.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **CHUGGGACHUGGACHUGGA!**

Rio watched as the scenery rapidly sped past his line of sight as the train powered over the tracks leading towards his destination. The young man glanced towards his partner as she sat quietly across from him. The young maid stared at Rio for several seconds before he spoke. "Is there something on my face?"

"No." Sasha replied curtly and robotically as always. Rio sweat-dropped.

"Uh...okay." he glanced at his wrist watch. "Well, we still have a little while before we make it to Clover. We should still have some daylight when we get there, so we'll track down the Kishin as quickly as possible."

"Very well then." Sasha again replied curtly.

Rio sighed, pulling out the map from his backpack before tossing it to Sasha. The maid caught the item and gave it a questioning glance. "I want you to memorize the area were going to, roads, houses, anything on that map."

"Understood."

Again Rio sighed, placing his chin in his hand. ' _At least this will give her something else for her to do besides staring at me for no reason.'_ The teen turned his gaze back to the window, watching the scenery zip by them. ' _Hunting a serial killer. How fun'_ he thought to himself begrudgingly.

* * *

 **Clover**

"Chief! This is a disaster!" a policeman roared as the Chief of Police walked towards the scene of the crime.

The area in question was the back of a building not far from the city square, just down an alleyway leading towards the train station. The streets in front of the house were soaked in blood, reminiscent of the previous night's kill. The Chief of police, a large portly man with a thick beard and mustache with a long brown trench-coat strode into the area, a half-chewed cigar in his mouth.

"I'll say." The man grumbled kneeling down to examine the body. The victim was an middle-aged man, probably walking home when he got nicked down here…"

"Hey you can't be here! This is a crime scene!"

The Chief and his officers turned to see one of their policeman trying to hold back a young boy of about 14 and a young woman dressed like a maid. The boy gripped his beanie in frustration, clearly arguing with the officer holding him back.

"I'm telling you I'm supposed to be here! I have identification!"

"Nice try kid! But we ain't letting any civilians through here, wait for the news to find about crap like this!"

"Listen, I'm the specialist from the DWMA-"

"Yeah right, a kid like you?"

"It's true officers. We are from the Acade-"

"What's all this about?" The Chief grumbled, marching up to the trio.

The officer holding the line turned to his superior and pointed at the two civilians. "These kids want to 'examine' the crime scene, Chief!" the use of air quotes only seemed to infuriate the boy in front of them.

A tick mark appeared on boy's forehead. "That's are job asshole! We're representatives of Lord Death himself! How many times do I have to tell you?!"

"Ease up son." The Chief grumbled, stepping past the officer to confront the two children. "If you are from the DWMA, you must have identification on you."

"That's what I've been trying to tell this guy for the past minute but he kept cutting me off!" the boy fumed, yanking out what looked like a wallet before showing the man a silver card.

"Rio Hesfield...14...and a 1-starred meister eh?" The Chief eyed the maid next to him who just stared at him with such a blank look that it unnerved him. "Okay...well, come on in I guess."

"You can't be serious Chief!" the officer argued. "They're kids!"

"They have ID. Body's right down here. Hope you kids have strong stomachs." The Chief led the duo towards the eviscerated remains, watching for any sign of queasiness or disgust on their faces but was surprised when he saw nothing from the maid and expression of Rio's face that could only be described as mild curiosity.

Rio knelt down, peeling the white sheet that had been draped over the body back to see the full damage. "Oh…" the boy replied.

"What kind of 'Oh' was that?" the Chief asked. The two teens glanced at the man, so he decided to clarify. "You said 'Oh', is that and 'Oh' that's interesting, or 'Oh' as in we're screwed?"

"The former." Rio replied. "Sasha, can you get my kit from the bag?" he asked, moving the sheet aside completely before rolling up his sleeves. Sasha removed what looked like a medical kit from the bag before presenting it to Rio. The boy took the box and opened it up to reveal several medical supplies including surgical tools.

Rio slipped on a pair of rubber gloves before removing tongs and a scalpel. He then began to cut into the body.

"Hey!" The Chief grunted, moving forward to grab the teen, only to be stopped as a wrist grabbed his hand, jerking it to the side. He looked up to see Sasha gripping his wrist. For such a petite girl, she was ridiculously strong. "W-we haven't even got an autopsy from our coroner!"

"Good." Rio replied, continuing his work. "That way I can get a first look. Hmmm…Sasha, let him go."

"As you wish." Sasha replied, releasing the Chief.

"Hey, Chief," Rio asked, looking at the older man. "Was this the first slasher case like this?"

"No. This is the eighth victim we found this month. We had a case like this a while back, 'bout...three years ago. Caught the guy doin' it, death sentence and all that…"

"Were the other victims like him?" Rio asked.

"How do you mean? If you're looking for connections between the victims we already tried, nothing really connects them. Two went to the same gym, another two knew each other but none of the others have any connection. We ain't some small town-"

"No, no, I get that…" Rio replied. "But that's not what I meant. Were all the victims like him?" he asked again, "Athletic? Fit?"

"Uh...I'd have to check with our coroner when he shows up...but yeah...like I said, two were regulars at a gym, pretty hardcore stuff, the other two that knew each other were running partners, two girls. I uh...I think they were fit...they were at least good looking-"

"I get it." Rio waved him off. "Let's assume, whenever your coroner gets here he can confirm, that all the victims were fit. Athletic, strong…" Rio paused, searching for a word. "Healthy. They were all attacked around here, the square?"

"No." The Chief shook his head.

"No?" Rio looked up

"Four were around here, yeah, but the others were at different points of the city. One all the way at the outskirts, another on the opposite side, and two at random spots."

"Hmmm…" Rio mumbled.

"Then it's not a typical slasher case is it." Sasha stated. She looked at Rio who was deep in thought, though he nodded his head.

"Yeah, that changes things a bit. Chief, feel free to correct me here, but slashers operate in certain ways. They're opportunistic, they kill when they can and within a preferred territory, they familiarize themselves with an area so they know the best spots to kill their targets-"

"Not always." Rio and Sasha turned to the Chief as he pulled the cigar from his mouth. "What you're sayin' is pretty accurate, but if a slasher is targetin' specific folk like this, he might be stalking these people for some time. Instead of familiarizing himself with an area-"

"He familiarizes himself with the target. Like a stalker he knows their moves, knows when their vulnerable, alone. They have to have some form of quick transportation…"

"Sorry I'm late!" the group turned to see a scrawny man with short-trimmed black hair and round glasses in a hastily-put-on suit jogging towards them. He ducked under the yellow crime tape and pulled his satchel open, pulling out a medical kit. "My moped had a break in it and I-" the man stopped when he saw Sasha and Rio looming over the body, and his eyes widened in horror as he realized Rio's bloody hands were still on the victim.

"Should I assume you're the coroner?" Rio asked.

"What the Hell are you doing?!" the man shouted, rushing towards the boy. "You'll contaminate the crime sce-ARGH!" he yelled as Sasha had intercepted him, catching his arm and bending it behind his back. Several of the officers went for their weapons before the Chief started barking orders.

"Nobody shoot a goddamn shot!"

"Sasha!" Rio barked. Catching his maid's attention. "Let the man go. Don't need him to be broken." Sasha wordlessly complied. "Names Rio, you the CSI on this case?"

"Y-yes...Carl Lys…" the man muttered, gingerly rubbing his wrist. "Wh-who are you two?"

Rio simply waved his bloody glove. "Names Rio." he then gestured to his partner. "You've already met Sasha. We're with the DWMA, here to consult."

"E-even so, you're just a kid. You shouldn't be messing with the crime scene before a profess-"

"Rio is a professional." Sasha stated. Both the Chief and Carl turned to her in surprise. "He is both a professional doctor and surgeon."

"What?!" the Chief barked. "A meister I can believe! But a kid being a doc-" his words were silenced as Sasha pulled out a medical license issued for Rio. "This can't be rea-"

"You're from the Hesfield family?!" Carl shouted in surprise, turning to Rio with an awed look. Rio's response was a slight groan.

"Carl, the Hell are you on about?" the Chief asked.

"They're a famous family of doctors and surgeons! They've made incredible breakthroughs in medicine-"

"My family's done a lot of things over a lot of years, can we accept the fact that I'm qualified without someone trying to blow my family?" Rio grumbled. Both the Chief and Carl looked slightly taken aback. "Carl, I need a second opinion here."

"Uh...r-right." The man jogged over to the body, kneeling down alongside him. Carl stared at the body for a moment. "Well...this is consistent."

"Matches the other attacks?"

"Yes."

"Quick question, ran this by the Chief, all the victims healthy? Athletic?"

"Yes, terribly so. Why?"

"Look at the wounds." Rio pointed to the lacerations. "What do those look like to you?"

"The lacerations? They look like knife wounds. Knife was sharp, curved, did deep damage."

"Those wounds were superficial." Rio pointed out.

"What?"

"Look, they cut just beneath the tissue, enough for bleeding, but no major damage to vital areas. A slasher would go for those, kill the victim quickly, before someone stumbled in on them doing the deed. Why would they do such precise work?"

"I...I don't know." Carl admitted.

"Did anyone check beneath the wounds?" Rio asked.

"Beneath the wounds? You mean in the other bodies? N-no, wh-why?"

Rio grimaced a bit. "Call your morgue. Get the bodies and slice em open beneath the wounds." the boy stood up, re-positioning himself on the other side of the body before digging the scalpel into its chest.

"H-hey!" the Chief barked.

Rio grimaced as he peeled back a layer of skin and muscle. "Carl, notice a certain lack of something here?" Carl glanced at the wound, eyes widening.

"His spleen is gone...liver…"

"Help me with the limbs." Rio ordered. Seeing little reason to argue, the man helped Rio, pushing the arm to the side and examining a seemingly random slash across the upper arm. "The upper muscle has been stripped out. I bet the other limbs have been similarly dissected."

"Our slasher has surgical skills! Chief!"

"I'll put in a call. New lead, slasher has surgical skills. Thanks kid, listen, we gotta take it from here, give us the number of the hotel or whatever place your staying and we'll keep you in touch about the other bodies. Once we got a lead we'll bring you in again."

"Sure." Rio grinned.

* * *

 **Evening**

"Rio." Sasha turned to her meister as he reclined on the side of a wall. The duo were perched on top of a large clocktower that stood as one of the tallest buildings in the city. "Why didn't you tell the police everything?"

Rio opened his eyes, looking straight ahead at the moon which bore its maniacal grin. "Because of a few reasons. The victims and the wound pattern. The slashes were set in a weird manner too."

"Patterns you didn't share with the police."

"Don't think they could deal with a kishin. Not this one at least. Either they have a weapon that's shaped in the fashion of a claw, or they have claws to begin with."

Sasha tilted her head. "A magical creature?"

"Gramps kept a book of autopsies back at the manor." Rio mused with a bitter tone. "Took a look at it. Half of it was filled with murders conducted by monsters. This one looked familiar. And the organs and muscles that were taken are prime meat for the suspected breed. "

"So we are hunting this creature now." Sasha concluded. "Is it arial?"

"How'd ya figure?"

"You had us take up residence on this tower, one with a nearly unobstructed view of the city. The slasher is able to enter an area quickly then flee just as fast. Flight would be a considerable advantage in doing so. You believe it will strike from the air again."

"Yep. But for what else I hid from the police, that's more of a personal hunch."

"I'll trust your judgement."

"Thanks." Rio replied. The boy closed his eyes, focusing his mind until he opened them, now glowing with a faint yellow hue. "Soul Perception." Beneath his perch, the buildings disappeared, leaving nothing but floating orbs in their place. The souls of Clover were laid bare before him and Rio's perception narrowed until he found the one he was searching for. A throb of pain struck Rio's forehead, but he ignored it, intensifying his perception as he followed the soul's path. Another throb. The soul wasn't far from where they were, he could see its outline, the features of the soul, and the faint tinge of red that was slowly glowing. A third throb.

"Rio."

"Not now." he grunted, locking onto his target. The soul was following another one. WIthout the buildings, he couldn't outline the area, but he saw the distance between them shortening. A fourth throb.

"Rio." the boy looked up, seeing his partner glaring daggers into his eyes, her hand clenched around his skull, digging into his scalp. "Cease." she demanded. Rio felt a warm substance dripping down from his nose and brushed his hand across it. Looking at the back of his hand, he saw the crimson smudge of blood.

Sasha handed him her handkerchief. "Thanks…" he mumbled blowing his now bloody nose into the cloth. Sasha opened her mouth to speak, but Rio cut her off. "I know. I pushed the limit."

"If you do this once more, I will punish you." the maid stated plainly. Rio nodded his head, offering his hand to her. Sasha removed her hand from his scalp, and gripped her partner's hand, her body glowing as she transformed.

Rio pulled his arm back, cradling his weapon in his arms. Hs maid now took the form of a silver rifle, black horizontal lines streaking down the barrel until it split right down the middle, signifying its ascension from a rifle, to a railgun. Rio rested the barrel on his knee, leveling his eye with its iron-sight.

"Permission to perform short Soul Perception?" Rio asked.

"Granted." His weapon replied curtly.

Rio closed his left eye, right eye taking the yellow hue it once had again. He quickly strengthened his vision, intensifying his perception until it found its mark once more. "Target locked. Shot charged." the barrel of the rifle began to burn a bright blue, arcs of electricity sparking between the gaps in the rifle. "Firing."

A burst of blue energy arced through the air, piercing the many building until it found its mark, barely missing the intended target, and sparing the now startled victim from a similar fate to the previous eight victims.

"I think we gave him a fair warning there." Rio smirked. "Second shot charged." he grumbled, stepping forward off the ledge. The boy free-fell for about five seconds before Rio aimed his weapon at the rapidly approaching street. "Firing!"

Another shot erupted from his rifle, the impact forcing him up into the air and right at the level of an adjacent rooftop. Rio reached out with his hand, grabbing the ledge before hoisting himself up onto the ledge. "Guh…" he rubbed the now sore spot on his stomach where the rifle but hit him on recoil. "I'd say I'd never do that again…"

"But we both know it would be untrue." Sasha replied coolly.

"Yep." Rio replied sprinting forward and leaping onto the rooftop that overlooked the alley of his target. Down in the center of the alley, leaning against the wall, gripping his wounded hand, was Carl Lys, hissing in pain. On the ground not 3-feet from him was the shattered remains of a syringe.

Rio dropped down onto the alley's dumpster, staring down at the terrified coroner. "R-Rio! Wh-what are you-?" his words died as Rio raised the rifle, leveling it at Lys's head.

"Drop the act. I withheld evidence from the Chief and you for three reasons. There was little signs of struggle at the murder scene, and the wounds weren't deep enough to kill the victim outright. So why wouldn't they fight back? Or cry out for help? Especially if they were athletic and fit. Surely there'd be evidence of a struggle, so somehow, the victims had to have been immobilized. Two, puncture marks near the neck, indicative of an injection, which got me thinking that the victims were drugged. And because the creature that killed them doesn't have the dexterity to wield a syringe, and possesses no such natural stinger or paralytic agent, an accomplice had to be present to administer a drug." Rio gestured to the shattered vial.

Rio hopped down from the dumpster. Carl hissed at him. "Y-you little shit!"

"That's not nice." Rio mused. "And third, you said the cuts were surgical. The creature that commited the murders isn't known for such 'precision'." Rio air quoted on the last word. "I say 'precision' lightly because it was amateurish, sloppy. You tried to make it seem like the person was a trained surgeon or something. But you didn't need to be a great surgeon for carving someone up like a butcher, did you Lys?"

"Grr…" the man snarled.

"Call it." Rio demanded.

"Huh?"

"Don't play games with me, sicko. Your souls on the way to becoming a kishin, meaning you've devoured souls, but your partner has been doing the heavy lifting, that's why your progression has been so stagnant, you're not even a full kishin yet, but not entirely human anymore, hard to detect at a first meeting." Rio stepped a foot closer, rifle charged. "Call it."

Carl cringed as he saw the light from the rifle shine on his face. The man pursed his lips before a shrill whisper echoed throughout the street. Rio, braced himself, eyes aglow with a yellow hue as his perception broadened for any abnormal souls. He barely reacted in time.

 **KAKLANG!**

"Guh!" the teen grunted skidding back in the alley as the wind whipped around him like a miniature tornado. Rio had barely blocked the claw slash with Sasha's barrel. The creature of the sky was definitively faster than anything else he had fought.

"Y-you wanted to meet her you damned fool!" Carl hissed, a sick grin spreading on his face while he slowly stood, using the wall for support. "Well here she is!"

Before the meister and his weapon was a winged humanoid just barely taller than Rio. But it's wingspan easily dwarfed them both, each wing was only a hair's breadth away from touching the opposite wall of the passage between buildings. Her hands and feet ended in yellow bird-like appendages, fitted with curved claws that glinted in the moonlight. The rest of the creature was a slender red-haired woman. Rio was surprised to see the creature was quite attractive for a magical beast. The young lady wore a short purple dress that barely reached mid-thigh and only seemed to be held up by a thin string wrapped around its neck, holding the garment to the creature's modet bust. Her crimson hair was done up in a fashion that made it look like two loops with loose fringes straying in the wind, framing her angular face with elf-like ears and eerie yellow eyes.

Unlike Sasha's cold stare, these eyes unnerved Rio purely from the fact that he could see the creature's hunger reflected in the pale orbs. "So you're the Harpy that's been killing folks in town, huh?"

"Oh?" the creature replied, her young voice sounded squeaky and childlike, but what caught Rio off guard was that she had made a cognitive response. "You know what I am?"

"Yeah...I'm knowledgeable...didn't know you guys could talk though."

"Most of us can't." the harpy replied. "But I'm a special case." she smiled smugly. "So I guess you're my prey…" she grinned, brandishing her claws. Her grin slowly faded when her eyes fell upon the railgun in Rio's hands. Rio saw the expression and smirked, holding the weapon aloft a bit more. "T-that's a demon weapon! Y-you're a meister?!"

"Card-carrying." The teen responded. Without warning he let loose a burst of energy from his weapon, only missing the harpy due to her quick retraction of her wings. The magical beast landed on her rear, fear in her eyes before anger overtook them. Her eyes darted to Carl before she rocketed off the ground, talons outstretched.

"Shit!" Rio hissed, reaiming his weapon. The harpy grabbed Lys by his shoulder, lifting the startled killer off the ground and carrying him into the air. Rio leveled his weapon, lining up a shot.

"What's going on here?!" Rio turned to the front of the alley to see the Chief sprinting into the area. "Kid? What in blazes are y-" his eyes followed the barrel's path until he saw the rapidly shrinking form of the harpy and something vaguely human like beneath it. "What the Hell-"

"Chief we need a ride!" Rio barked, breaking his sight to rush to the man. "That thing has Lys!"

"Wh-what?! Where's it-?!"

"Edge of the city! Maybe further! No time for backup or dicking around, grab your car and let's go!"

"R-right!"

* * *

 **Woods Outside of Clover**

The crackling of burning twigs were the woman's only companion besides the bonfire in front of her in the darkness of the woods. No other sounds could be heard as she sat in a clearing, surrounded by the many trees that casted sinister shadows upon the illuminated area. Despite the ominous atmosphere, the woman was completely at peace. That was until the flapping of wings filled the air.

The woman sighed, leaning back on the log she was sitting on to see two winged figures landing gracefully in the clearing. One of the figures remain perched on the ground, doing its best to fold in its wings while the second, taller figure's wings simply folded in on themselves before taking the appearance of a feathered cloak.

"Well…" the woman started, turning to her guests. "I was wondering when you'd be coming to see me."

"Oh? You were expecting me?" the taller, cloaked figure asked, striding into the light of the fire. "Why am I not surprised."

"The Grand Coven is having its meeting." the woman by the fire said. "So they send out their little greeting cards to each of its members informing them of the meeting place and for us to RSVP once we receive it. I didn't, thus someone was sent to confirm my disappearance, death, or rebellion. You did send Ecky, didn't you?"

"I did. I hoped she would keep her distance, but alas, she has always been more rambunctious than her sister. Do you have any idea if she's been behaving herself while she searched for you?"

"Haven't a clue." the woman by the fire responded lazily. "She found me, sent you a message, and flew off."

"She'll sense my presence. If she' a good girl she'll return here shortly. But back to the business of disappearance, death or rebellion, is your position the latter?" the cloaked figure asked.

"A personal one, yes. But not the type that Maba needs to be concerned about."

"The gathering is mandatory."

"What's the point?"

"Excuse me?"

"The Gathering? Why go? Nothing happens. Amara, you're almost 300 years old...I'm approaching the 160-mark...what's truly happened? We gather, we squabble, we moan and complain but nothing gets done. Maba wants to keep her eye on us all for her own paranoia...but it's pointless. Stagnant and useless. Why go?"

"Layra, we are a community. We must show unity-"

"To what?" the woman snapped.

"To ourselves!" the cloaked woman screamed, her voice echoing out amongst the silent forest. The cloaked woman steadied her breath before speaking again. "We need to stand together...we need to stand for something...otherwise, what is the point?"

"AAAHHH!" the shrill screams of a man alerted the duo to two figures quickly descending from the air.

* * *

"Stop the car!" Rio shouted. The Chief slammed the breaks, letting the car skid to a halt. Rio kicked the door open, hopping out of the vehicle, Sasha in hand as his eyes swept over the woods.

"Kid wait!" Chief barked, getting out of the car to follow. "You saying Lys was the murderer the whole time?!"

"He was the accomplice!" Rio shouted back, making his ways towards the woods. "The harpy killed the victims after Lys drugged them. And then he sliced them up, presumably so the Harpy could feed off them. He hid the wounds best he could and just left them out of his reports. As the CSI on the case he could doctor the wounds all he wanted. When and how he met this harpy and why its in the city are another can of worms."

"So what do we do?"

"We do nothing. You go back to the city, round up some police and heavy firearms, and make a perimeter around here until you hear back from us."

"You're going after them alone?"

"You want to go into a dark forest in the middle of the night with two murderers? One of which is a mythical creature you have no knowledge of fighting?" Rio asked with a deadpan look on his face.

"Uh...good luck kid…" he mumbled.

"Thanks." Rio replied, sprinting off into the woods.

"Damn kid...thinks he can take on killers and monsters...I swear the DWMA is just sending people to their deaths!" The Chief grunted stepping back towards the vehicle. The man wrenched opened his door before a song echoed across the area, drowning out all else.

The Chief's eyes glazed over as his muscles relaxed. The song continued, drowning out all other thoughts besides listening to the beautiful song as it continued to echo across the clearing. A winged figure descended from the sky, settling down on top of the car, its wings folding down until they took the appearance of a cloak.

The Chief stood still, totally enthralled by the siren's song, a dopey grin on his face. The cloaked figure above him raised a taloned claw before bring it down, sending a torrent of blood into the air. The body hit the ground, face cleaved into three gruesome sections, eyes torn from their sockets.

"Foolish human…" the cloaked figure murmured, turning her attention to the entrance where Rio and his partner had disappeared too. The figure began to hum, stepping down from the car before striding back to the entrance, still humming. "If you go out to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise...if you go out in the woods today, you better go in disguise…"

* * *

Rio pushed through the underbrush, moving a branch out of his way as he kept himself low to the ground. "Harpies don't live in forests...why is this one here of all places?"

Sasha's reflection appeared across the barrel of her weapon form. "Is it truly uncommon?"

"Most of her species live in mountains or near cliffs. Better vantage points, narrow paths to catch prey on, really natural territory advantages. A forest is more cramped for flight-paths, a small one like this limits height advantage, and if anything gives opponents reachable height possibilities for sniping or long range attacks. Plus, the canopy would obscure her line of sight, making hunting a real bitch. All-in-all, this place has no lair or den advantages. Tactically it makes no sense."

"And clearly, her cognitive abilities are above those of a typical animal's." Sasha concluded.

"Yep. And I've got little to explain why she'd bother to drag Lys around with her. He had no combat abilities from what I've seen, and his medical expertise is sub-par, he's no doctor."

"Do you think she has some sort of relationship with him? Such as an animal to its owner, or a weaker animal being protected by a stronger one like in a pack mentality?"

"Maybe…" Rio muttered, ducking under a branch. He stopped progressing as he saw several broken branches and slashes covering the area. "But he's more dead weight...why…"

"AAAIIEE!"

"Nah." Rio muttered. "Don't think it's a companionship thing."

Rio made his way to the source of the screaming, crouching behind a tree before leaning out, weapon charged. He could make out the young harpy's form standing over a tree. Underneath the plume of her wings he could see the shaking form of Lys pinned to the trunk of the tree. "E-Ecky please! I did everything you wanted! I got you food!"

"You led me to a trap! You brought that meister here!"

"N-no! It wasn't me! T-the C-Chief requested the DWMA! I had no idea who he was!"

"You called me out in front of him! He'll be after us and the queen!" The harpy shrieked.

"E-Ecky! P-Please! I-I-I've kept you fed remember? I helped keep your presence a secret!"

"Until you didn't!" Ecky screamed, swinging her claw at the man's head.

 **SCHLUK!**

Rio's eyes widened as blood painted the tree and ground. Ecky bent down towards Lys's corpse before the sound of flesh being torn was heard. More blood dripped down Lys's body. ' _She's eating him!'_

Ecky made a loud slurping noise as she stood up over the half-eaten corpse. "Thanks for the snack, Carl."

Rio aimed his weapon at Ecky's back. His finger wrapped around the trigger but before he could fire, the snapping of branches alerted him to another presence. The young meister leapt to the side, his sweater catching a slash from three nasty talons. Rio rolled to his feet, a quick glance at his shirt showed the claws had just missed flesh. Rio quickly re-aimed his rifle before a feeling of dread descended upon him.

"Rio!" Sasha barked. Rio ducked, feeling the beanie on his head being sliced open by a curved set of talons. Rolling back, Rio discharged his rifle in a blindfire maneuver, catching his first opponent off guard and forcing her back.

Rio readjusted himself, aiming his weapon between his two adversaries, the first he was seeing for the first time. The second harpy in front of him was taller than Ecky with longer blonde haired tied in a ponytail. Her attire consisted of a black-bikini-like ensemble with a gold sash hanging off her waist. Her figure was also much more mature than Ecky, making Rio believe she was older than Ecky by some margin.

"You were sloppy Ecky." the firmer tone only added to Rio's theory of greater age as the second harpy chastised her fellow monster. She turned to Rio, eyeing the meiter up and down until her eyes locked on his weapon. "Is that a-"

"Railgun? Yes it is." Rio smirked, tossing the rifle into his left hand. "But don't get used to it. Sasha, burst mode."

The rifle in Rio's hand glowed purple before encompassing his wrist. The harpies were blinded by it for a brief moment before it died down, revealing a new form of railgun mounted to Rio's arm. A long black arm-guard covered the boys left forearm before splitting at his fist, revealing two long fins-like protrusions that descended about a foot off the fist, leaving a large square like barrel visible.

"Smile, and wait for the flash." Rio smirked. In an instant, his arm was leveled at Ecky's head and a burst of purple energy erupted from between the fins, lighting the air on fire as the shot barreled past Ecky's head. The harpy's speed was the only thing that saved its head, but some of her hair wasn't as lucky as she came out of the attack with the left side of her curls being completely singed.

"You!" the Harpy screamed. "Effy! Let's kill him!"

"Ecky wait!" the older one shouted. But it was too late, Ecky swept forward, claws outstretched, slashing at Rio, who stepped just out of range before swinging his arm forward, firing off another purple burst of energy. Effy shrieked as the shot grazed her wing.

"GIAAH!" Effy flew in fast after her, giving a blind swipe to Rio who rolled back. A side handle popped off the side, allowing his right hand to steady the weapon, aiming it at the two harpies.

"Bang."

 **BBZZZAAP!**

Another burst of energy erupted through the air. .

Effy grunted, grabbing her younger by the arm with her feet before rocketing off into the air, taking them both above the canopy. "He can't get us up here!" the older harpy mumbled, gripping her injured ally beneath her.

* * *

"You think they realize I can still hit them through the trees?" Rio murmured to his partner.

"I give you full permission to use Soul Perception."

"Gee, thanks mom." Rio muttered, closing his eyes. When they opened they once again had their yellow hue, erasing the trees from his vision until he saw the two warped souls high above in the sky above the forest. The two souls glowed with a pinkish hue, with feathers poking out of their sphere-like souls. "Gotcha." Rio smirked. Firing his weapon.

* * *

 **BZZZAAP!**

A burst of purple light erupted from the treeline, piercing through Effy's wing as the older harpy wailed in pain. "GIAAAHH!"

"H-he shot us?!" Ecky cried as she felt herself plummet alongside her partner monster.

* * *

 **KKRRSSH!**

Rio smirked as he heard the snapping of branches and the screams of the two female monsters off in the distance. Resting Sasha's smoking barrel on his shoulder, the meister casually strolled through the underbrush, pushing a few branches out of his way until he came upon the impact area. But no harpies could be seen.

"Oh...are you kidding me?" Rio grimaced, seeing the empty clearing. The teen looked around for any sign of the creatures. "I just downed them! How do they move so fast?"

"Do they have accelerated healing?"

"Maybe...gramps book didn't mention it, but most monsters are stronger than your average human."

"I give you permission to use Soul Perception once more."

"Good ide-WHOA!" Rio barely dodged the attack by an enraged Ecky who slashed at him with her talons, nearly catching his shirt once again. Rio pivoted on his heel re-aiming his weapon at the harpy, only to feel a blitz of pain erupt from his back. "GAH!" the teen felt a large weight settle on his now bleeding back as two taloned claws gripped his wrists pinning him to the ground.

"Not so tough when you're face down in the dirt!" Effy smirked. Out of the corner of his eye, Rio could see the side of her wing smoking from his railgun's attack. "You're like a worm!"

"Let's gut him now!" Ecky screamed, marching up to the downed meister. Rio grimaced as he felt a warm, wet sensation drip down his back, he had little doubt that it was blood. "Make it quick! Before the Queen finds him! We'll be in trouble if she finds out I led a meister here!"

"You'll be in trouble Ecky." Effy corrected. "But I wouldn't worry about him any more." The older harpy smirked, raising her claws up high.

"You two are morons, y'know that?" Rio grumbled.

"You really want to insult the people who have your life in their hands?" Effy said with a twisted grin.

"What can I say? I'm an honest person. And you dumbasses forgot that I have a demon weapon."

"A gun's no good if you can't aim." Ecky grinned triumphantly.

Rio smirked. "Except demon weapons are seperate people."

The two harpies shielded their eyes as a bright glow encompassed Rio's arm. When the glow faded, the two creatures were faced with a young maid who raised up the folds of her skirt, revealing four small cannons emerging from her thighs. "Excuse me." Sasha replied curtly before the weapons on her legs erupted in a barrage of gunfire.

 **BBRRARARAKKK!**

The two magical creatures leapt back as best they could with the use of their injured wings. Sasha focused fire on Effy, sending several railgun bolts at the older harpy who struggled to avoid the assault.

Ecky leapt at the maid, whose back was turned to her. "Gotcha now!" The harpy swung at the distracted weapon, only to feel her momentum shift completely as Rio tackled her by her midsection, throwing them both into the underbrush.

"N-no! Wait!" Ecky screamed as the two continued to tumble. Rio felt a certain lack of resistance after a moment before the wind whipped up around them.

The teen glanced down to see the two had apparently plummeted off a cliff. "Oh fuck." the teen deadpanned.

 **SPLAAASSHH!**

The impact rattled Rio, who had to hold his breath to keep from swallowing the cold water as it washed over them. Ecky flailed around in the water, her wings flapping uselessly in the river as Rio clung to her. The current pulled the duo down further into the forest as Ecky struggled to break free of the younger meister.

"G-get off!" she screamed, wings flapping in the water, Rio closed his eyes, bracing himself as the water from her splashes washed over him. "I-I n-need to get airborne!"

"Then you'll let me drown!" Rio managed to gurgle out through the water.

"Of course!" Ecky snapped back.

"Then why the Hell would I?!" Rio shouted back. The magical creature sneered at her unwanted passenger before slashing at him with her claws. "GRAH!" Rio screamed as the claws raked across his upper arm, leaving four large slashes etched into the muscles.

"Not so tough without your weapon are?!" Ecky grinned, feeling the meister's grip loosening. She smirked in triumphant as she felt on one of his arms slip from her waist. The grin faded as she saw a glinting object in the arm lunging towards her.

 **SHLUK!**

"GIIAAH!" Ecky screamed, reeling back in pain as the scalpel pierced her eye. Rio dug the weapon into her socket as she flailed around in pain.

"I think I'm tough enough to handle you!" Rio sneered, ripping the surgical tool out of her scalp as she blindly lashed at him. Rio let his grip loosen, letting the current drag him back enough to let the attack miss him. He mentally regretted that decision as the strength of the tide increased, ripping him from the screaming harpy. Rio braced himself as he crashed into a rock.

The young teen did his best to grapple the rock, trying to cling the faint growth of moss that blanketed its side. But the moss wasn't thick enough for him to grip it. Instead his fingers scraped the plant, tearing it off the rock and severing his only anchor. The current caught him again and Rio inhaled sharply, trying to capture enough oxygen to carry him through the water's embrace.

' _Well this sucks!'_ he mentally screamed, slamming into a rock before being sent tumbling through the current. Rio's grunt broke his hold on his lungs and the water crashed over him, forcing him to inhale it. He gagged on the water, doing his best to hack it up in exchange for air, but only succeeded in sucking in more water.

' _Dammit!'_ again the river slammed him into a rock, this one bing large enough for the boy to wrap his arms around, snagging him in the middle of the river as the current tried to pull him back under. ' _Need a way out!'_ his back and arm ached, he could still feel the blood running across his now wet back and wounded deltoid.

Rio's eyes darted across the river. Various rocks jutted from the rapids, but none of them were large enough to brace him let alone close enough to shore for him to escape the predicament of drowning. Then his eyes settled on an exposed branch jutting just over the river's edge where it met a cliff, no doubt signaling the formation of a waterfall.

Rio gritted his teeth as his mind rapidly fired off the facts he knew could get him out of this situation. ' _No guarantee the harpies can't regroup and attack either Sasha or myself, the water is keeping my wounds from coagulating, blood loss will increase, loss of strength imminent, drowning soon to follow.'_ Rio once more looked at the branch that hung over the start of the waterfall. ' _No indication of stability, no discernable height of waterfall...no alternatives.'_

"Death dammit." he grumbled. Mustering what strength he had, Rio pulled the remain of his hoodie ff his chest. It's tattered state only made the process of removal easier. Rio maneuvered himself around the rock, nearly losing his grip as he positioned himself so his back was toward the front of the waterfall. "Here goes everything."

Rio pushed off the rock, letting the current add to his momentum as he raced towards the waters edge. He let his feet skim the bottom of the river. Seeing the dge rapidly approaching, Rio sucked in another breath of air before ducking under the water, letting his weight take him down until his feet touched the bottom. Pushing with all his strength, he flexed his legs pushing himself off the edge and out of the river. He felt himself go airborne and whirled his shirt into the air, over the branch and into his awaiting left hand. The makeshift grapple snagged the branch yanking it down with a sickening **CRACK!**

Rio felt the branch give way beneath, snapping at its base and swing him towards the cliffside where a vine held a tentative grip over log. Said branch slammed into the cliffside, giving Rio a split second to cling to the rock-face before the branch tumbled from the cliff and into the rapids below.

"Gah…" Rio hissed, pain arcing through his arm and down his back. "T-that...didn't go as planned." the teen slowly began to pull himself up the cliff, bit by bit, with his one good arm. "Hope Sasha is faring better than I am right now."

* * *

Sasha strode through the undergrowth ignoring the branches that scraped her skin and clothes as she followed the river's path in an attempt to find her missing meister. The harpy known as Effy had fled as soon as her sister had plummeted with Rio. And while its was an opportune time to attack the retreating creature, she had to prioritize her meister's safety above the mission unless ordered.

She hugged the cliffside as she walked, peering over the edge for any sign of Rio or the harpy he had fallen with. Sasha stepped over a branch before a shadow darted across the landscape. The maid's eyes locked onto the shadow as it disappeared over a tree. Sasha stopped in her tracks, turning to the area the shadow had disappeared behind. Sasha stared at the group of trees for a moment before raising the hem of her skirt again.

Two sets of guns emerged from her legs, all our barreles aimed at the trees. "Whoever you are, if you can understand human language, you have exactly three seconds to reveal yourself or I will use lethal force. 1...2...3…" Sasha's weapons ignited, firing off burst after burst of railgun shots, tearing apart the forest with deafening shots.

Sasha stopped after the fifth volley, confident that anything in the undergrowth had either fled or died under the attack. Seeing no movement or response of life, Sasha returned to her search for Rio.

Or she would have, if a song hadn't reached her ears. Sasha's movements began to slow. Her muscles began to relax, much against her will as she tilted her head to the side instinctively, as if to hear more of the glorious sound that pervaded her ears. A winged figure descended upon her, landing not ten feet from her.

Sasha had just enough cognitive function left to take in the woman's appearance before he mind dulled completely.

The being in front of her was a tall women with long sea-green that reached down below her waist in a high ponytail. Her arms were attached to two massive white wings that slowly detached, folding over her back like a cloak. Her outfit consisted of a leotard like suit split down the middle, showcasing the sides of her prominent bust while leading down to a pair of garter-belt stockings. Her feet were left bare as they morphed from talon claws into human appendages.

"Well well well..." the woman drawled out to Sash as her vision began to dull. The figure in front of her was more of a blur to her than anything discernible. All she could really understand was that this person was the owner of the heavenly voice she was listening to. "Are you enjoying my siren song?" the woman asked. She once again began to sing.

Sasha's world finally went dark, the only thing her delirious mind could register was the song being sung directly in front of her, filling her with nothing but calming bliss.

Amara sighed, bushing a stray green hair out of her view as she looked over her handiwork. The maid-like girl in front of her was enthralled by the siren song, meaning her meister was without his weapon. "From the direction of the river, he'll probably end up near Layra. And I'm sure the meister was a teenage boy too...he should be easy pickings for Layra."

* * *

"Shit…" Rio grumbled, dripping wet from his escapade into the river. He looked over his wounded arm, now bandaged up by the remains of his sweat-shirt. The remainder of the shirt had been wrapped around his back as a makeshift press, keeping a spare back of gauze against his wounds. "Need to find Sasha and get out of here...wish I had something reflective to call the academy. Note to self, bring a pocket mirror."

Rio gingerly lifted himself off the ground, grunting as he felt the pain in his back surge to life. "Didn't have any painkillers in my med-kit and this is the price I pay…" he stumbled forward into the woods, gripping his wounded arm as he made his way over a fallen branch, doing his best to avoid any noisy movements. It wouldn't do him any good to draw attention to himself when he didn't have his weapon partner.

Pushing aside a branch in his path, Rio stepped onto a log lodged between two tres, creating a makeshift ramp that he used to overlook the forest. "I fell from the upper cliff...meaning Sasha's fight should've been around there." Rio prepared himself to drop down until a light caught his attention.

"Is that a fire?" he mumbled. Hopping down from the branch, he quietly made his way to the blazing fire set in the middle of a wide clearing. Rio approached the edge, careful to stay out of the light itself while scanning for any sign of people. Keeping his hand on his scalpel, he stepped towards the clearing, only to recoil as a figure walked towards the blaze.

Rio squinted to get a better view of the figure. But the figure wore a tan cloak that obscured most of their body. A bird flew right past Rio, nearly clipping the boys head who had to cover his mouth to prevent a scream of surprise from exiting his mouth. The bird flew towards the figure who raised their hand to let it perch on their finger. The figure brought the bird closer to the front of their hood as it chirped excitedly.

Rio watched as the figure lowered its hand, letting the bird fly away from the clearing. The figure strode close to the fire before shrugging off her cloak. Rio caught his breath as he saw the figure in the fire's light.

The woman in front of him was absolutely gorgeous. She had shoulder length scarlet hair that was partially covered by a red veil resting over her head like a cut off hood. The rest of her outfit was rather revealing, consisting of a black corset that rested well above her navel and revealed a generous view of her sizeable bust. Her lower half was covered by a crismon dance skirt that stopped before her ankles and was slit on one side, exposing her shapely thighs. A pair of black stocking was all that covered her legs, stopping just below mid-thigh while a pair of black silk gloves climbed up her arms and stopped before her shoulders.

The woman began to rock back and forth, her hips swaying side to side as she stared into the fire. A slight hum left her lips as her movements continued. Rio watched, hormones and curiosity ruling his decision as the woman in front of him began to writhe to the tune she was humming. She raised her arms above her head as while hopping foot to foot. Slowly she brought them down, tracing her body while spinning around, giving Rio and unobstructed view of the dance.

The teen leaned forward, as the woman's body became more clear to him while she danced in the light. Rio could feel his breathing increase as he unknowingly stepped closer to the woman. By now he was on the edge of the clearing, just a foot away from where the light illuminated the area.

The woman stepped closer as the fire crackled brighter, growing in size as embers warped around her like dozens of fireflies. The miniature lights floating around her only added to her allure as she raised her hands over head, swinging her hips in a lazy motion before bringing her hands down, tracing the curves of her body. Rio felt his breathing hitch as her motions pushed her breasts up.

The embers whipped around her as she spun again shaking her hips so that her skirt flew about, revealing more of her thigh for the enthralled teen to ogle. The woman stepped closer to the forest's edge. The embers around her imitating the light the bonfire was creating as she left its wake. Turning to face her sole audience she bent back at the waist, letting her hair fall backwards before starting to shimmy.

By now the lights around her had spread to the forest, fully illuminating the young meister a sthe woman stopped just a few feet away from him. All the while the woman never stopped dancing. Rio stared up at the woman, barely registering that during the dance he had lost the strength in his legs, on his knees as the woman finally slowed her dancing, a seductive smile gracing her face.

"Hello~" the woman purred. Rio's heart pounded in his chest, the blush on his face only deepening as he heard her voice, a sxy and husky one that sent a pleasurable jolt through his body. The woman looked over her newest catch with a mischievous smile as she saw the prominent bulge in his shorts. "Did you enjoy my dance?" she purred, bending at the waist to give her captive another glance at her chest.

Rio felt his head nodding, his senses were in a haze,hs hearing, sight and smell blocked out everything except for the gorgeous woman standing before him. Said woman raised her hand, stroking a strand of hair away from her captives face while lockings eyes with his distracted gaze. "What's your name?"

Rio felt his lips moving as his throat vocalized a response. "Rio…" he almost slurred. The woman merely giggled in response. Her hand slid from his face, down his cheek and under his chin, raising his view so it locked onto her eyes.

"Names Layra." the woman purred. "Witch of Desert Embers."

 **FWOOSH!**

The dancing witch turned her head slightly, enjoying the moan of displeasure that came from her captive as he lost sight of the woman who had enthralled him. Layra faced two injured harpies who landed unceremoniously on the ground. Effy had one of her wings scorched, blackened feathers covered the lower half of the appendage, only ending at her elbow. Ecky on the other hand was missing an eye. Blood trailed down her once cute face, now marred with a hideous scowl as she glared past Layra and at the meister who had injured her and her sister.

"Is he under?" Effy panted out. Layra nodded her head lazily. "Poor boy couldn't help himself when he saw me. I have to thank Amara for sending that little bird that told me his hiding spot. But once he saw my dance...well, magic and hormones did the rest."

"So I can kill him?" Ecky asked excitedly, scurrying towards the downed boy who was still lost in a lustful haze. Layra frowned as the harpy rapidly approached her thrall. "He took my eye! I want his life!" Ecky raised a claw to strike but was stopped by a plume of embers that burst to life in front of her.

"AGH!" she cried, stumbling back where she tripped onto her butt. She looked up to see Layra, arm held out in front of Rio, miniature flames dancing off her gloved arm. "W-wh-what was that for?!"

Layra fixed the harpy with an angry glare. "He's my thrall. Touch him at your own risk." Embers rose from her flame engulfed arm, illuminating the cold look on her face.

Ecky audibally gulped. "B-but he took my eye-"

"Your appetite led a meister here. You brought this on yourself. Who knows, maybe that injury will ease the punishment Amara will deal you." Ecky's face paled while Effy merely gave a downcast look to the ground.

 **FLAP! FLAP!**

The trio looked up as the sound of wings swept through the night air. A large shadow swept over the area before landing in front of the fire. Amara dropped an unconscious Sasha onto the ground as her wings morphed back into her white cloak. The green haired witch glared at Ecky who coward at her gaze.

"Ecky, you and I will have a private conversation as to your recklessness later. Understood?"

"Y-yes…" The young harpy whimpered.

Amara turned her attention to Effy before glancing back at Layra. "Enjoying the new thrall?"

"Haven't really gotten a chance." the redhead replied. "Have you?" she asked, gesturing to the unconscious demon weapon behind her.

"No. Personally I'm debating killing them right now, but I want to make sure that they're only here because of Ecky's mistake. If they actually knew you were here or that I was going to meet you-"

"You want to make sure they're not getting info from someone in our ranks? You sound like Maba."

"Various witches have defected to the DWMA when Death started offering them pardons! It's not unlikely that-"

"Someone has turned traitor in the ranks and has been trading secret to the Grim Reaper, I get it. I didn't say you were wrong in thinking that. But don't go spouting it off to Maba...who knows what she'll do."

"Then how should we proceed?" Amara asked as Layra turned her attention back to her newest conquest.

"Hmmm…I wonder…" the dancing witch mused with a sly grin gracing her face. "Rio, dear?" she asked kneeling down to face her thrall. The boy seemed to register her presence briefly until he saw beyond her to the unconscious maid near the base of the fire.

"S-Sasha…?" he mumbled out before Layra cupped his cheeks with her hands. Again his gaze met the seductive look of the witch and his senses seemed to dull once more.

"Rio, I need your attention to be on me, okay?" Layra said sweetly. The boy gave her a lazy smile as her face became his whole world. "Good boy~" she cooed, stroking his face. A jolt of pleasure surged through the boy at her praise. "I need you to answer my questions, okay?" Rio nodded his head as best he could in his dazed state. "Why were you in the city of Clover?"

A spark of recognition flashed in the boys eyes, something Layra didn't miss. "I-I can't say…" he mumbled. Layra frowned.

"You don't remember?" Rio didn't respond. "Or do you not want to tell me?" The boy frowned, an internal struggle raging beneath the surface.

"I can't...tell you…"

Amara walked towards the kneeling pair, observing the boy curiously. Layra ignored her colleagues' stare in favor of speaking to Rio. "Rio...can't you tell me? Don't you want to tell me?" she purred. Again, Rio's face frowned.

"Y-yes...but...I can't…"

"Why not?" Layra moaned with a fake whimper. Amara rolled her eyes, being used to her colleagues' penchant for toying with her prey. "Why can't you tell me?"

"O-orders...from Lord Death…"

"Tch!" Amara scoffed. "He's been trained at least." the Harpy Queen grumbled, drawing Layra's attention. "The Demon weapon and her meister are most likely going to withhold any actual information about their mission."

"For now." Layra replied, standing up. "But...I think I might have a way of getting them to talk."

"How much time will it take?" Amara asked.

"A few days if I want to be careful. Otherwise we might just get zombified thralls instead of obedient ones."

"What's the difference?" Effy questioned.

Layra answered without even looking at her colleagues' 'pet'. "A standard thrall is simply under your control via an extreme emotion such as lust, love or devotion. A zombified thrall is nothing but a meat puppet with no real cognitive function. They're boring and useless unless you just want to swarm people."

"Three days, Layra." Amra warned the crimson-clad witch. In response Layra just waved her off.

"I'll get it done." the dancer replied, turning her attention back to Rio. Cupping the boy's cheek she leaned in close. "You and I are going to be spending a lot of time together...doesn't that sound nice?"

Rio's only response was to give her a lazy smile.

 **And that's another chapter down! Any suggestions or comments, just leave a review.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing from the Soul Eater franchise. This is a work of fiction all rights belong to the show's original creator.**

 **Chapter 3**

 **DWMA, Infirmary**

Touma sat up on the cot near the edge of the room, the same cot that sat across from his unconscious Demon Weapon. Hoshi lay asleep in the cot, her breath steady and deep, signaling a peaceful sleep at least. And one with noticeably less pain. When Touma had awakened, he discovered he and Hoshi had been rushed back to Death City and were immediately treated by the school's resident nurse.

Both Hoshi and himself had been stabilized before being kept in induced sleep for the past two days after their failed mission. While both were spared the mind-shattering pain that had felled them initially, they were still bedridden from their injuries until the nurse could fully heal them.

Speaking of said nurse, the door to the infirmary opened to allow the school's resident nurse into her place of work. Touma couldn't help but ogle the woman as she sauntered into the room. Teresa, the school's nurse, was a tall woman with long brown hair done up in a bun tucked underneath a nurse's cap. The rest of her ensemble fit well with her job as she wore a white, one-piece nurses uniform with red lining over the edges. The dress like outfit reached down past her thighs and covered the upper parts of her arms. Said outfit hugged her generous curves witch Touma was doing his best to ignore, and failing.

"Good morning, Touma." Teresa greeted with a dazzling smile.

"G-good morning." Touma replied as the nurse picked up a clipboard near the foot of his bed. She quickly skimmed over the notes she had made during his initial examination, refreshing her memory.

"Right. Good news is most of your injuries are healed despite a broken rib and some internal bleeding, but to be honest, all it will take is one more round of healing and you'll be fully refreshed." she said rather happily.

"H-healing…?" Touma questioned, being slightly familiar with the school nurse's particular brand of healing, one that was rather...peculiar. "Uh...is that necessary? I'm sure I'll be fine in a couple of weeks or so, right?"

"Yep." Teresa replied, stepping closer to the side of Touma's cot. "But, I have orders from Lord Death to have you and Hoshi in fighting shape by tomorrow morning."

"What? Why?" Touma asked. Teresa sat on the side of the cot, setting the clipboard aside.

"I didn't really question Lord Death too hard. Besides, wouldn't you be happy to get out of my stuffy old infirmary?"

"Well…" Touma muttered, growing ever more conscious of just how close Teresa was getting to him.

"Or…" Teresa purred, crawling up behind him as her hands started to unbutton his hospital shirt. "Do you enjoy it here?" Touma felt his cheeks heat up as her hands finished unbuttoning his shirt. The teen offered little resistance as she pulled back his shirt, revealing his bandaged chest. "I can't blame you…" she whispered into his ear. Touma felt his heartbeat begin to increase as her breath tickled him. His body stiffened as a pair of cold hands began to make their way up his chest, causing a small jolt of pleasure to race up his spine. "Most boys find my treatment...stimulating…"

"Ah…" Touma moaned as a pair of breasts pressed up against his back. Without his shirt on, he could feel the clothed goods more than he should have through her tight uniform.

"But it's not just the boys who like it you know." Teresa whispered, her hands starting to trail down towards Touma's waist. The boy let out an audible gulp. Teresa giggled. "The girls seem to enjoy it too." without warning, she lightly bit his ear.

"Uh…"Touma groaned while her hand trailed over the waistline of his pants and over the now noticeable bulge that had formed in his trousers. He practically could feel Teresa's grin as she sensually molested him. This was the 'peculiar' method of her healing arts: physical stimulation.

"I-i-i-is this r-really n-necessary?" he moaned out as her hand applied pressure to his clothed member. "MMMM!" he moaned, cheeks darkening in color at the almost girlish squeal he had released.

"What an adorable moan…"The nurse whispered seductively, rubbing her chest up and down Touma's back while her hand continued to rub Touma's erection, enjoying the pleasure filled moans that escaped the teens mouth. "But you should at least try to hold it in...otherwise, your cute little partner could wake up."

Touma shut his mouth as quickly as he could, his eyes that had closed from the pleasure, opened fearfully to glance at his partner who still lay asleep on the bed opposite of him. He groaned again as Teresa increased the pace of her ministrations. "Ha...ha…" Touma began to pant, unconsciously bucking his hips to aid her hand.

"There we go…" Teresa purred. "That nice rush of lust...just let it guide you." The nurse closed her eyes, focusing her powers. When she opened them, they were glowing a vibrant yellow. A similar covered aura soon covered her body before it spread to Touma.

The teen felt the witch's magic course into him. His chest, once sore from his fight with Ingrid, soon began to grow numb. The whole time Teresa had been infusing her healing aura into her patient, she hadn't stopped her actions, steadily stroking Touma through his pants. Emotions powered her spell, and emotions such as lust were potent enough to boost her powers to incredible heights. "Feels good right? Can't you feel all those nasty wounds healing?" she whispered, slipping her hand under his bandages, letting her fingers caress his soon to be bare chest.

Touma barely processed her words, to absorbed in the pleasure this sexy nurse was instilling in him. But suddenly the ministrations groaned in protest, surprising even himself at how desperate he was. Teresa pulled herself away from the panting boy and stepped off the cot, walking around to face his front, a seductive look in her eyes as she looked over the panting teen, eyes brimming with the lust she had instilled in him.

"You look fully healed now…" she said, bending over while folding her arms underneath her chest, pushing her already sizeable bust further into the horny teen's view. "Should we stop now?"

"N-no!" Touma shouted. Realizing what he said and just how loud he had said it, he gave a panicked look to Hoshi who had shifted in bed slightly, but other than that, she still slept.

"You want to finish? Is that it?" Teresa purred, sliding her arms around Touma's neck while pushing her thigh between his legs. "I won't stop you...go ahead…" she whispered directly into his ear, her breasts pressing up against his chest.

That was the final straw as Touma pushed forward, letting his pent-up lust rule his actions as he humped against her leg like an animal in heat. Teresa grinned as she rocked her body in time with his, rubbing her thigh against his groin, enjoying the way his pants and groans of pleasure sounded.

"M-Miss Teresa-! I-I-" Touma panted, pleasure reaching its peak.

"Go ahead…" Teresa whispered, her own voice sounding as if she was panting. "Finish! Cum!"

"GAH!" Touma groaned, a euphoric sensation coursing through his body as he climaxed. Teresa held him tightly against her body as he slowed his movements, gingerly rubbing her hands across his back.

"Good boy…" she cooed, finally separating from the teen who now sported a massive blush.

"M-Miss Teresa-! I-I'm so sorry! I didn-!" Touma sputtered before a finger pressed to his lips silenced him. Teresa giggled slightly as she sat back on the cot, giving her young patient a disarming smile.

"You don't have to be embarrassed 're a healthy teenage boy with a growing libido, and let's be honest, my magic thrives on instilling and feeding on powerful emotions, and lust is one of the easiest to induce, especially in youth." the nurse slid off the cot, gesturing to the boy's exposed chest. "Feel better, right?"

Touma felt his chest but no pain. The bruises and lacerations from Ingrid's attack had pretty much faded. "Y-yeah. T-Thank you."

"No problem!" she said happily. "It was a nasty wound and required more energy to fully heal, and reaching a climax was all I need to fully patch you up." Teresa then gestured to a door on the far side of the infirmary. "Showers and lockers are right through there. Go ahead and clean off and get dressed. I'll need to start Hoshi's treatment soon."

"Oh right." Touma replied, sliding off the bed. "My clothes are in the lockers?"

"Yep." the nurse replied sitting down on Hoshi's cot while pulling down the sheets that covered her. Touma looked away from his partner's attire. While it was the same plain white shirt and pants, her pair was more dishovelved from her constant movement under the covers, causing her shirt to rise up slightly and her pants to be pulled down to bare her hips for him to see. Teresa noticed the boy's embarrassed reaction and giggled. "You are too cute, you know that?"

Touma's face only took on a deeper shade of red. "H-hey you said it was healthy…" he grumbled, not daring to look the nurse in the eyes.

"It is." Teresa replied, sitting down next to the sleeping girl. Hoshi stirred slightly. "Especially with a girl like this…" she purred. Touma glanced back to her and immediately regretted that action as he saw Teresa's trace her hand up Hoshi's thigh. Touma felt his cheeks heat up once again as he saw his partner squirm slightly before letting out a moan.

"Mmm…" she groaned squirming a little closer to Teresa who took advantage of the movement to slide her hand up her hip and under the hem of her shirt. Touma gulped as he saw the school's nurse run her hands up his partners chest, groping her breasts before the teen's wide eyes. "Muh... " Hoshi groaned, a blush spreading on her cheeks, all the while Teresa kept her eyes on the flushed Touma. "Touma…" she moaned. Teresa's grin only grew as she saw Touma visibly gulp when he heard the breathy way his partner muttered his name.

"Oh...seems like she's dreaming of you…" Teresa grinned, leaning in towards Hoshi, eyes never leaving her audience. "Would you like to join me in healing her? I don't think she would mind."

"I-I should t-take that shower now…" Touma mumbled, eyes still hovering over his partner who squirmed in pleasure under Teresa's touch. The boy quickly headed towards the showers, stumbling along the way while Teresa continued to giggle.

"Turn the dial left for cold.." she called out with a sly grin.

Once Touma had left the room, she turned her full attention to Hoshi who was slowly coming too. "Ugh...mm!" she moaned out as she felt her breasts being squeezed by the nurse/witch.

"Good morning, Hoshi~" she sang. "Time for your treatment." Hoshi could only whimper in pleasure and embarrassment.

* * *

Lord Death stood in front of his mirror as a man dressed in a heavy orange jacket, tan cargo pants and a green vest with bright red hair and equally red eyes stood in the mirror's reflection. "Keith, are you sure you can't make it back in time?"

The young man in front of him sighed. "Sorry sir. But me and Micah are miles away and the jobs only half finished. Our info was off, there are at least twice as many goblin-spawns as were sighted. Either they're reproducing through...ugh, I don't even want to think about that, or, there's a powerful witch creating more. Either way, Micah and I are stuck here until we deal with it. Are there really no other Two-Starred meisters you could spare?"

Lord Death's head hung. "Unfortunately, we've been spread pretty thin. Benjamin and Tony are still out on there assignments, and the Remly sisters have yet to even report back. The only Three-Starred meisters still on premise are the teaching staff, and I can't just dispatch them aimlessly, especially with how things seem to be proceeding. We need all hands on deck and the Three-stars are necessary for the operation."

"The Gathering of Witches, right?" Keith replied. "Yeah...things have been hectic over here besides the goblins. Micha heard several townsfolk freaking out over a witch sighting in the next city. Witches don't usually operate out in the open like this."

"The Gathering is special. For them it's a sign of out-right defiance against order and safety. If we're able to actually find its location, we could gain a massive advantage over them in the long run."

"Do any of 'our' witches have any idea where it might be held?" Keith asked. After its founding, The DWMA allowed witches into its ranks if they could prove themselves above the destructive influence of magic. Though the numbers were low, several witches fled to the academy in exchange for pardons and amnesty. Teresa, the school's nurse, was one of several currently employed and sponsored by the school whilst also being under the protection of Lord Death.

"Maba is nothing if not paranoid." Death replied. "She's clever, almost as clever as she thinks she is. Her paranoia ensures that only her most trusted witches receive the location ahead of time. They then gather the others and escort them to the meeting. This makes tracking them easy, yet difficult. A large group of witches could be easy to detect via Soul Perception, especially if a witch isn't using Soul Protect, but the chances of getting caught while tailing them makes it difficult for our agents to follow them close enough to find the gathering, let alone mount an offensive."

"So no hope of Teresa or Olga having any info, huh." Keith grumbled. "Well, sorry sir, but as it stands, me and Micah can't help ya."

"Micah and I." Death said.

Keith raised an eyebrow "Huh?"

"You said 'Me and Micah.' the correct phrase is "Micah and I.' We have English courses for a reason Keith." Death said matter-of-factly.

Keith's response was a dead-panned stare. "I'm hanging up now."

"Well good luc-" the boy faded from the mirror before the reaper could finish his sentence. "Ha...youth these days. So impatient."

"Like you weren't when you were younger." Death turned around to see Cassandra leaning over a large black and red skull chair positioned behind a scarlet desk filled to the brim with books, papers and an assortment of pens and pencils. "I still remember how hot-headed and blood-thirsty you were."

"I wasn't that bad." Death pouted, his mask shifting into its best imitation of a child's pout.

"Sure you weren't." Cassandra laughed, sitting down in Death's personal chair before folding her legs over the desk. Death ignored the blatant disrespect for his work space as his assistant and foremost Deathscythe continued her trip down memory lane. "I still remember Toore Island." A sweat-drop appeared on Death's face but Cassandra didn't let up. "You charged head first into a coven of witches so fast and so furious that you didn't even realize how many there were until you slaughtered half of them. By the time you actually realized YOU of all people were outnumbered, Eibon had already completed the actual objective."

"Not my proudest moment...I'll admit it."

"Nor the time you tried to cheer ups those orphans that time at Revan's Creek." Cassandra giggled as another sweat-drop appeared on the grim reaper. "You scared them so badly their tears almost over flowed the river-bed!" she laughed, fully aware of the now depressed look on the reapers face.

"I was only trying to help…" he moped.

"Hehe...luckily Velka's motherly nature seemed to put them at ease." Cassandra mused, remembering the only female member of the Death's Eight Warlords. "Her banter with Eibon was always so funny…" she mused, a sad smile gracing her lips.

"Indeed." Death muttered solemnly. "Those days...despite the violence and the uncertainty of victory in every fight...it seemed like it was impossible for us to fathom our group changing the way it did." Cassandra turned her gaze to her partner, her eyes widening in slight surprise as she saw his appearance revert to what it was during the so called 'Long War'.

The cartoonish mask that he had swapped to when the school opened was replaced by a scarred and cracked traditional skull. His robes lengthened, spanning several feet across the floor while his oversized white hands were enveloped in black shadows, morphing them into twin jagged claws with the word 'DEATH' and 'ORDER' seemingly carved into them.

When Death spoke, his voice was deeper and more surly than that of his more benevolent persona. "Asura's descent, Vajra's and Velka's deaths, Eibon's disappearance, and the others...I should've stopped it all." he mumbled. "I let myself become a tyrant of order...yet all I did was bring chaos...even to those I loved." Death's depressing musings were brought to a halt when a feminine hand touched the skull-like mask. Death looked towards Cassandra who ran her fingers across its weathered surface, feeling every crack and scar that had been inflicted upon it. Death made it a habit to never fully repair the garment, seeing its as a memento of experience and the trials he and others had conquered. Cassandra herself knew that Death could tell anyone exactly where each scar or crack came from, who had inflicted it and how.

"I always hated this mask…" she mumbled. "You always thought you had to burden everything back in those days...that's why you wore it...and never truly fixed it. You thought you had to shoulder everything." Cassandra's fingers slipped beneath the seams of the mask, separating it from its wearer who offered no resistance. The fiendish mask soon returned to its clean, cartoonish version, removing any traces of the battle-worn marks that had adorned it previously.

"It wasn't until after you opened the academy that you learned to really rely on others." Cassandra looked up from the mask to stand face to face with the Grim Reapers trues self with a warm smile. "So stop sulking, Grimm. You're not alone anymore."

Cassandra held up the mask for her partner to take as his appearance returned to that of the more lighthearted and eccentric face of the DWMA. Lord Death slipped the mask back on his face, eye-holes warping to show he too was smiling. "I know. And I'm thankful for that everyday. Especially to you, my Deathscythe, for reminding me of it." he said, voice now back to its usual high-pitched tone.

Cassandra smiled back at him before stepping back to give her superior back his personal space. "They're not all gone you know. The Eight Warlords." she said, a sly grin coming across her face. "You could always reach out to Excalibur if you miss them so much."

Death turned away from his long-time companion and stared at the mirror. "Well, they say absence makes the heart grow fonder."

Cassandra burst into giggles at his obvious remarks to avoid the famous, or in Death's case: Infamous, holy sword.

 **KNOCK! KNOCK!**

The two leaders of the school turned to the the long hallway that connected Death's room to halls of the school. "Enter." Cassandra called out, allowing Teresa to enter the room.

"Lord Death, Cassandra. Hoshi and Touma's treatments are complete. They're waiting outside with Zack and Owen."

"I see. Please send them in." The nurse nodded, briefly disappearing behind the door. A moment later, the door fully opened to allow in four students who walked down the long stretch of desert road that connected the platform to the rough path.

Teresa led Hoshi, Touma and two other teenage boys to Lord Death. The first boy was taller than the second and sported spiky orange hair, combed down in an unruly fashion, aided by a pair of black over-the-ear headphones. His attire consisted of a dark grey hoodie zipped up to just below his collar with a black skull logo near its front pockets. A pair of black skinny jeans tucked into converses adorned his legs while a pair of black armbands covered his wrists.

The boy next to him was shorter by a few inches and and had sandy blonde hair with yellow eyes and a pair of dark gold headphones resting around his neck. He wore a dark blue blazer rolled up at the sleeves to reveal the leopard print underneath. His pants were a baggy pair of white and black striped cargo pants resting over dark grey boots.

"Touma! Hoshi!" Lord Death cheered, popping party streamers out of nowhere in celebration. "So good to see you two on your feet again!"

"U-um yes sir!" Touma replied, slightly put off by his superior's antics while Hoshi just smiled. Cassandra approached the two and smiled gently at her young protege.

"I'm glad you're safe." she said with a sincere smile. Hoshi replied with a happy smile of her own, a faint blush on her cheeks.

"And Zack! Owen!" Death exclaimed, turning his attention to bonde and oranged haired teens. "So glad you're back as well! Congratulations on your mission being a success!"

"Ha!" Zack chuckled to himself, running his hand through his blond hair with a cocky grin. "Of course! We ain't some Freshman pushovers!"

"We are Freshmen, Zack." Owen responded in a flat tone, absently listening to some rock-and-roll track that Touma could vaguely hear.

"Shut up Owen!" Zack snapped back. Touma and Hoshi chuckled at the two partner's usual banter.

"You two are adorable." Hoshi and Cassandra giggled in unison. Zack blushed at this, looking away with a pout while Owen kept his attention on lord Death.

"Why are we here, sir?" he asked in his usual bored/flat tone. The rest of the group settled and followed the boy's lead, turning to look at the now somber Lord Death.

"Straight to the point as always Owen." Death mused while Cassandra fetched some documents from his desk. "We need you on a rescue mission."

Touma raised an eyebrow. "Rescue mission?"

"Yes." Death affirmed. "You are familiar with Rio and Sasha, correct?"

"What's happened to them?" Touma asked.

"They went to Clover to investigate a series of brutal murders, but haven't reported back. We have reason to believe the situation there is more complicated than we originally believed. Therefore, I wish for you to journey to Clover to rescue or at least locate them."

"Here's their original assignment." Cassandra handed Touma a thick folder, no doubt filled with info on the mission.

"Is it just us?" Owen asked.

Lord Death shook his head. "Normally, I would have a Two-Starred or even Three-Starred meister lead you, but unfortunately most of them are on assignments, not due back for some time, and the few we have are active teachers here who are needed on standby. However, Elise and Hashiko are on their way back from their assignment and will meet you in Clover."

"Elise and Hashi-chan?" Hoshi exclaimed excitedly.

"Wow, haven't seen them in a while." Touma mused. "We've really been running missions back to back lately."

Zack nodded in agreement while Owen simply shrugged. "We go where we're needed." he said. He then glanced to Teresa, "Is Teresa coming with us?"

"Unfortunately, boys, and Hoshi," Cassandra said with a sly smile, "Teresa is still required here, you'll have to entertain yourselves without her. But please be discreet about it, we do have a reputation to uphold."

Zack and Touma visibly blushed while Hoshi held her composure, although Cassandra could tell she was embarrassed about the 'treatment' she had received from the witch-turned nurse. Owen on the other hand shrugged. "What if they're hurt? I'm not that good at first aid. Neither is Zack." He turned to Touma and Hoshi. "Are you guys?" Touma and Hoshi shook their heads simultaneously. "Then shouldn't Teresa come with us?"

"I didn't know you enjoyed my company so much, Owen~" Teresa said in mock bashfulness, placing a hand to her cheek with a fake blush.

Death decided to answer Owen's question when he saw the noticeable tick mark appearing on his head. "As the school's nurse, her expertise are needed here. But, she has been working on potions with Olga's aid. They should act like healing ointments."

"Like health potions in video-games?" Zack asked as Teresa produced several deep red vials and proceeded to hand them off to the four students.

"Yep." the nurse responded. "But I wouldn't suggest taking them in a fight. They use your own energy to accelerate the body's own healing, so you'll be dead tired after downing one."

Lord Death once again spoke, gaining the group's attention. "You'll be departing for Clover ASAP. The train will take you there. I suggest speaking with the police Rio was meant to aid."

"Roger!" Hoshi and Touma replied while saluting. Zack and Owen stared at the duo, who looked back with puzzled expressions. "What? They asked.

"What are you doing?" Zack questioned.

"Saluting." they said.

"Why?" Owen asked. "And stop talking in unison. Its creepy."

"You guys don't salute Lord Death?" Touma asked.

"Uh...are we supposed to?" Zack asked, looking back to the being in question.

"I never said you had to." Death explained shrugging his shoulders.

"Wait! We don't?!" Hoshi exclaimed. "I thought everybody did that!"

"No." Cassandra giggled, placing a hand on her pupil's shoulder. "But you two were so adorable when you did it that no one wanted to tell you."

"Wha-?!" Hoshi mumbled as Touma face-palmed.

"Well," Death said, clapping his oversized hands together. "Best be off kiddies!"

* * *

 **CHUGACHUGACHUGA!**

The noise of the train rattled loudly as the the four students sat in silence on their way to Clover. Touma was reading the dossier while Hoshi leaned over his shoulder to skim it as well. Touma had to fight to keep his concentration as he felt Hoshi's chest press up against his arm. ' _Focus on the mission, focus on the mission!'_ he chanted to himself like a mantra.

Across from them Zack sat with his head lolled back, snoring audibly. Owen sat next to him, music blaring in his ears as he stared ahead blankly. His eyes roamed over the rest of the car lazily, seeing several individuals sitting around the train car but none of them held interest for very long. His gaze fell back to the pair across from him and he noticed Touma's blushing face and struggle to ignore his weapon-partner who seemed oblivious to the affect her close proximity was having on her partner.

Owen could see Touma's eyes struggling to stay on the dossier as opposed to ogling his partner who by now was starting to catch on to his rapidly shifting eyes. Hoshi simply smiled at her shy partner, saying nothing. Owen sighed, "Just fuck already…" he grumbled.

"What?" Touma asked.

Realizing he had just spoken out loud he quickly looked towards the dossier. "Anything we should know?"

Touma had a feeling that wasn't what he had said, he decided not to press the subject. "Several dead bodies, serial killer like stuff. Well except for the locations."

"Locations?" Hoshi asked, staring again at the dossier which Touma angled so she could see it better without leaning over, something in hindsight Touma realized he should've done earlier. "Oh...they're all over the city, that's weird."

"Is it?" Owen asked, nudging Zack awake.

"Guh…?"

"Stay awake and pay attention." He glanced back to Touma, "Go on."

"The areas are scattered, which is pretty weird for a serial killer. Typically they operate in an area they know. This one is all over the city."

"Any idea of what weapon was used?" Hoshi asked.

"Uh...some kind of curved weapon?" Touma asked questioningly. Hoshi looked at the page with a confused look.

"Who did the autopsy?" the lone female muttered. "It's so...so...bland!"

"Few descriptions...no estimation of length or type of weapon beyond the initial description...or how so many lacerations were conducted without a fight. They said there were few signs of struggle...but no drug test. This seems more like an indictment of the Clover Police Department."

"So idiots were working the case." Owen deadpanned. "Phenomenal."

"Who cares?" Zack muttered leaning back. "When we get to Clover we'll just ask around. Poke and prod!"

Hoshi frowned at the blonde. "You mean just ask around for info? That could take hours!"

"Or days." Touma added. "I say we go right to the police, nab as much info as possible on where Rio and Sasha went and make a plan then, and fast."

"How's that any different than my plan?!" Zack snapped.

"You're plan involved walking around and asking random people. Touma's plan is to ask the people with actual information." Owen said. "Even if they suck at their jobs."

"Let's just agree to hit the ground running when we get there. The longer we wait, the worse off Rio and Sasha could be." Touma said, closing the dossier.

"You two friends?" Owen asked.

Touma gave him a questioning glance. "Huh?"

"You and Rio." he then pointed to Hoshi. "You both friends with him? Just askin', never really talked to him outside of class."

"Sasha wasn't that talkitative either. Was she his maid or his weapon?" Zack asked.

"Both. "Hoshi and Touma answered.

Zack and Owen glanced at each other. "Is it a fetish?"

Hoshi sighed while Touma face plamed. "No." he said firmly. "Sasha is his maid/servant. You know the TA Marcus?"

"Mrs. Lauren's assistant?" Zack asked. "What about him?"

"He's Sasha's older brother." Seeing the two's eyes widened, he continued. "Their parents went into debt a while back, and they basically sold them to the Hesfield family."

"The Hesfield family?" Owen muttered. "Why does that sound familiar?"

Hoshi frowned. "It's Rio's family."

"Wha-?!" Zack exclaimed.

"The Hesfield family were renowned doctors." Touma quickly interjected. "They made huge breakthroughs in medical advancements and scientific studies. Hell, even Rio is a qualified doctor/surgeon and he's not even fifteen."

Owen raised an eyebrow while Zack stared at them slack-jawed. "You said 'were renowned'." Owen said. "Why the past tense?"

"Well...it kinda revolves around Marcus and Sasha's situation." Touma explained. "Rio's grandfather was making big breakthrough in gene-therapy and research, but no one really knew how. Turns out he was buying...test subjects. He was in league with slavery and big-time human traffickers. When the truth came out, he was marked by the DWMA as a Kishin. Rio's parents were dead by this point, and with the grandfather in the wind, Rio was left in charge of the Hesfield name and everything it stood for. It also made him responsible for the test subjects."

"Marcus and Sasha." Owen concluded. Hoshi nodded her head. "Keep going."

Touma nodded. "Yeah. Marcus was old enough to take care of himself and joined the DWMA. And Rio did soon after selling most of his family's fortune and property to make restitutions to those his grandfather wronged. But...the experiments they conducted on Sasha messed her up. You've heard the rumors that she has multiple weapon forms, right?" Owen nodded. "Well, thats because of what Rio's grandfather did to her. Because of that her personality is...well...not really there. So she stuck around as his maid and weapon partner. Rio, in some weird way, feel's pretty responsible for her and he joined the academy to make up for the stuff his family did when his grandfather was in charge of it."

"And Marcus was okay with letting his little sister run around with Rio?" Zack asked.

"I guess after all the stuff Marcus went through, he wasn't very good with people skills, let alone mentally stable to take care of his little sister." Hoshi answered. "And honestly...I don't think he had a choice."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Owen questioned.

Touma scratched the back of his neck. "Well...I guess you could call Rio her meister and her doctor. She kinda needs him to perform maintenance on her."

* * *

 **Forests of Clover**

A lone figure walked through the woods, a black jacket with red lining up its side with white fur trimming along the hood rested on his body, hood pulled up to obscure their face while a faded pair of grey slacks ended at a pair of hiking shoes. On his hip hung a large worn book bound in small chains, wrappings and riddled with bookmarks and sticky notes bursting from its open seems.

The figure walked through the woods, stepping over several destroyed branches and trees as he observed the aftermath of a fight. Walking past a leveled tree, he saw a soft orange glow piercing through the trees. Lifting the book off his hip, he flipped to one of the bookmarked pages before running his fingers along the page. A glowing green magic circle appeared in his hand.

Bringing the circle to the front of his chest, the figure left it floating in the air in front of him before dispersing into a glimmer of green light which he promptly walked through, his body disappearing from view entirely.

* * *

"Ow!" Ecky grimaced as the surgical thread finished its incision through her eyelid, sealing the wound closed. The harpy growled at the boy in front of her performing the impromptu surgery. Rio cleaned his recovered equipment with a glassy stare in his eyes as and equally glassy-eyed Sasha stood behind him with his medical bag. "Watch it!" Ecky snapped. Rio gave her no response as he packed up the tools. Ecky snarled again at the unresponsive meister.

"Don't get any ideas, Ecky." Layra called out, sitting on an elevated branch that overlooked the large bonfire that illuminated the clearing. "I've made quite a bit of progress in breaking them both, you try and get any petty revenge on them and you'll have two witches pissed at you."

Ecky cowered under the scarlet beauty's intense stare. Amara stood beside the fire-dancing witch, clawed talons perched on the outstretched branch. Her eyes trained themselves on the woods around them, as if looking for something.

"Mistress?" Effy asked, looking up at the harpy queen as she swept her gaze over the area. Her search was interrupted as her eyes drifted to the older of the harpy siblings. Effy had her injured wing wrapped in a makeshift sling while bandages wrapped the rest of the appendage as best it could to treat the burns and the bleeding. "Is something wrong?"

"Just a feeling." She muttered, turning her attention to the forest in front of her. The feathered cloak that enveloped her unveiled itself, merging with her arms to take the form of two massive green and blue wings that sent gusts of winds through the area.

Layra braced her hood, keeping it around her before giving the Harpy Queen a glare. "Amara, what was that-" the harpy didn't respond with words, instead she lifted herself into the air hovering over the clearing where she opened her mouth to release a powerful scream.

 **EEEEEAAAAHHHH!**

The resulting shockwave ripped through the forest, flattening every tree in its path. Branches and leaves fell slowly as the wind settled back down to a docile level. Effy and Ecky stared at the carnage in awe while Layra's attention stirred towards Rio and Sasha. The latter seemed quiet and composed, the glassy look in her eyes being the only real way for Layra to tell if she was still enthralled or not. She then looked to Rio who bore a curious expression.

"Wha…" he slurred, glassy eyes drifting from the sonic attack to Amara as she floated to the ground, arms separating from her wings as they re-took the form of her cloak. "Th-that was…" he grumbled. Layra quickly moved to him, cupping the boy's face and raising it so he was looking directly into her eyes.

"Rio, focus on me now." she said. "You poor thing. It must be so hard to fight like this. To think you can resist me." She traced her hand down his cheek. "To resist my body." She began to sway her bosom back and forth in front of his eyes, in a display that was mesmerizing and arousing all at once, as his will weakened from the sight of her cleavage and those same breasts stoked the fires of his arousal. "It's so hard to resist, when you know it will feel so good to let go." Layra ground her hips up against Rio, enjoying the pleased moans that emanated from the aroused teen. "All you have to do is submit your mind to me..." his head began to loll from side to side, as if his eyes were magnetized to her ample chest. "Let me take control, and sink into deep hypnotic pleasure." A dopey smile formed on his face as his eyes glazed over again. Layra pulled the boy into her chest as her hand continued to stroke his face. "Ssshhh...easy...just give in to the pleasure…" once she was satisfied that the meister was once again fully enthralled, she turned her attention back to her fellow witch.

"Amara what was the actual purpose of that?" Layra said "You nearly snapped him out of his trance! You want three days of work down the drain?"

"I swear, I felt it. A presence." Amara whispered with a growl. "One we're both familiar with."

"Ingrid?"

"Fuck, Ingrid's here?" The two witches spun around at the voice. Layra aimed a burning arm, flames flickering off her fingertips, while Amara prepared another scream, all aimed at the intruder behind them.

The figure in their sights sported a black jacket with red lining while fur trim lined the hood pulled over his face. In his hands rested a heavy book, opened to a glowing page. "Seriously, if the Crimson Witch is here then this'll be one of the flashiest events I've seen all week."

"You!" Layra snapped, keeping her flame engulfed hands at the unwelcomed figure. "What are you doing here?!"

"Avoiding getting pressure blasted to a pulp for starters." The figure said, turning his attention to Amara who glared at him. "I take it you're not happy to see me."

"Why are you here, mage?" the Harpy Queen spat venomously. The man merely smiled beneath his hood, his cocky grin being the only visible part of his face they could see.

The man glanced at the two injured harpies on the ground before looking to the two new additions he had never seen before. The so-called mage noted the glassy looks in their eyes and smirked, turning his hooded gaze to Layra. "Added a few new toys, huh? Who are they? Unlucky hikers? And if so, does the kid have a maid fetish because if he doesn't that chick has weird fashion taste."

"I don't think my thralls are any of your business." Layra hissed, stepping in front of them to block his view. "Now, why are you here?" The mage simply smirked.

"How'd you know I was here?" He asked, looking at Amara. He then glanced to the few birds flying around and perching on the trees. "Aah...the avian spies. I really need to learn that spell."

"Like I'd teach you my witchcraft." Amara sneared.

The hooded figure shrugged his shoulders. "Please, I'd rather face Maba in a duel to the death than learn from you. I'd just observe you until it clicked. It's just linguistic magic, not advanced alchemy or something, of which I'm getting pretty good at."

"Shall we report that to Maba? I bet she would love to hear you challenge her authority." Layra snickered. Her laugh stopped when the man just shrugged, not being bothered by the subtle threat in the slightest.

"Eh. Worse things can happen. And feel free to tell her when I drag your sorry assess back to her."

"What?" Amara growled.

The hooded man held up three fingers. "Three days. You've been gone three days since Maba sent you to fetch Layra, no contact no nothin'. She wasn't too happy and sent me out here to see what was happening. Either she thinks you rebelled and sent me to kill you, or find you and bring ya back, willing or not. So...rebellion?"

"If we were…do you really think you could kill us?" Layra declared, arms alight with flames while Amara raised a clawed foot, showing the curves of her talons.

The figure merely chuckled, stroking the spine of the book resting at his hip. "And do you really think you stand a chance against me?"the three figures stood at the ready, each one prepared to make the first move and counterattack. Effy and Ecky glanced at each other fearfully before they looked back to the standoff.

The figure's gaze was stolen from the witches when he jerked his head to the side. "Well...he's coming in hot."

"Wha-?!" Amara lepat back, followed almost instantly by Layra as a small blur zipped out of the foliage and towards the mage who made no move to stop it. The blur wrapped around the man's neck before ceasing its movements, allowing its body to come into view.

A dark furred ferret like creature was wrapped around the mage's neck, its body extended beyond its normal length thanks to the scaly, snake-like body below its neck, stopping at its clawed legs.

"What is boy?" The mage asked as the creature raised its head to the man's ear. An incoherent chittering escaped its mouth while the witches just stared at the scene with caution. "What? Four? Huh…" the mage looked at Sasha and Rio with a questioning gaze. "Are they from the DWMA?"

Layra kept a neutral expression as she answered. "Why?"

"Because three teenage males and one female are hiking through the woods now. And their DWMA students."

"Wha-?!" Ecky shrieked while Effy's face drained of color. Amara shot her subordinates and irritated look, but the damage was done.

The figure sighed, resting his hooded head in the palm of his hand. "Just great." he grumbled. His hand gripped his book, opening a bookmark page that the bizarre ferret scurried into, disappearing beneath the pages. "Well, by the looks of things you have a pair of meisters and demon weapons coming your way."

"Dammit all." Amara cursed. She turned to Layra and gestured to Rio and Sasha. "Are they able to fight?"

Layra nodded. "Yeah. They'll fight for me. But that's still more trouble than we're looking for. I'll send the two out as a distraction and we'll pull back. Mage, can you-!" Layra's words died as she looked to the now vacant spot where the mage once stood.

"What?!" Amara sneared. She whipped her head around the area, looking for any signs of the figure. "Did he just flee?!"

"Bastard!" Layra cursed. "Well, escaping might be out of the question now. What should we do?"

Amara raised her wings, a feral glint in her eyes. "Simple. We fight!"

* * *

"This is the place?" Zack asked, pushing a branch out of his face, not bothering to hold it for his partner who swatted the offending branch away from his face without so much as a scowl.

"This is the only forest near clover." Touma stated stepping over a fallen tree with Hoshi close behind him as they led the way. "People saw a winged figure fleeing from the city in this direction and the police reported that the Chief's car was seen exiting the city in this direction."

"And those same officers said Rio was with him when they left." Hoshi added. Meaning we're heading in relatively the right direction."

"What kind of monster are we dealing with? The witnesses say they saw wings." Owen asked.

Touma grimaced. "That's a hard question to answer. That could literally be dozens of creatures that fit the crude description we were given. At this rate, just be prepared for anything."

"That's a tall order." Zack grumbled. Zack nearly walked into Hoshi who had stopped just before Touma did. "Why'd you stop?"

"There's a light." Touma muttered, lowering his voice to a whisper. Owen peered over his partner's shoulder to see a faint glow coming from up ahead. "Hoshi, weapon form." his partner merely nodded, morphing into a warped katana that Touma seized. "You guys should ready up as well."

"Yeah, yeah…"Zack replied flippantly before his body glowed a bright yellow. Owen shoved his hand into the light before yanking it back, revealing Zack's weapon form, a massive silver halberd with a black and gold base stretching into the thick sides of the weapon ended with several gold wires stretching down its side like guitar chords.

Owen hefted the weapon over his shoulder, resting the human-sized weapon over his shoulder. "Ready?" Touma nodded. Owen marched forward, followed by Touma.

"Let's kick some ass!" Zack pumped through the reflection in his weapon form. Hoshi sighed in her own reflection while Touma sweat-dropped at the teen's antics.

Owen sighed. "Zack?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

 **SNAP!**

The two meisters swung their weapons forward in a defensive position. In front of the pair stood Rio, a large black gun mounted over his wrist. Touma recognized his friend and his weapon partner but didn't lower his stance.

"Rio? Are you okay?" The young man looked up, a glazed look in his eyes. Instantly, the weapon on his wrist released a crackle of purple lightning.

 **BZZAP!**

"WHOA!" Zack shouted as Touma blocked the shot with the flat of Hoshi's blade. "Owen!"

"I said shut up, Zack." his meister grumbled, leaping over Touma to bring his weapon-partner down on their enemy. Rio leapt back, letting the halberd slam into the ground with resounding force, uprooting the ground around them. Rio opened fire again, barely missing Owen as he tilted his shoulder to the left. The teen grimaced as he felt the heat from the blast singe his clothing.

Touma rushed forward, slicing at Rio's leg. The teen hopped back, blasting at the feet of his attacker to force him back. Touma shielded himself from the attack, rolling back. "Rio! It's us!" Another shot whipped past Toumas' shoulder. "Gruh!"

"Down!" Owen barked. Touma, dropped to the ground, allowing the taller meister to swing his weapon at Rio who blocked it with Sasha's weapon form. Still the impact sent him flying back.

"Easy!" Touma shouted at his battle partner, only to receive a sharp look from the teen. "He's not himself! Odds are Sasha has been compromised too!"

"Touma, you know what this is?" Hoshi questioned.

"Yeah. He's either bewitched or enthralled."

"And that mean what?!" Zack shouted.

Touma grimaced. "He's basically been brainwashed…" Another bolt bounced off the teen's blade. He had barely reacted to the shot and would've been split in two by the the blast had it connected with flesh. "Back up and get to cover!"

Owen ducked under a bolt before raising his axe, blocking the shot with the flat of the axe. "And give him more range?" he snapped.

"Just back up!" Touma shouted back, flinging his weapon at Rio who smashed Sasha's barrel into the attack knocking it away. The teen was reasonably surprised when the blade whipped back, nicking his leg as it was yanked back by a blood-red thread connected to Touma's hand. "Blood Arts: Crimson Thread."

Rio ignored the wound in favor of firing off another burst from his weapon, sending Touma and Owen ducking beneath opposite trees. Touma waved his hand at his ally, signalling him to scoot his body as far to the ground as he could. Owen decided to follow the advice, pressing himself closer to the ground.

A second later of bolt of energy tore through the trunk of the tree, missing the top of his head by a few inches. Owen glanced up at where the tree used to be, now only a smoking stump remained. "Good call." he responded to Touma.

Touma positioned his sword to see Rio's reflection. He could see the teen slowly limping towards him, bracing his leg as best he could. "He's not patching himself…" Touma grumbled. "That means he's really enthralled."

"What does that mean?" Hoshi asked.

"Enthrall works a lot like charm spells. They create a sense of devotion, adoration, lust or love in a target. Unlike charm though, it's not subtle and it can completely warp your personality…"

"There's a difference between the two?" Zack asked.

"This is why you shouldn't sleep in class." Owen deadpanned.

"Shut up!" his partner snapped back.

"There is a solid difference between the two." Touma replied. "And Owen is right Zack you shouldn't sleep in class."

"Wha-?!"

"You snore." Hoshi replied. "Loudly."

"But I-"

Owen refused to allow the conversation to derail any further. "What's the difference?" he growled.

"Ah, right." Touma replied. "Charm creates an intense charisma around one person and can affect large groups at a time. When focused on one person, the target can be coerced into doing things for the charmer. But it's like classic hypnosis to an extent, at the end of the day you wouldn't do something that would go against your moral code."

"And enthrallment?" Hoshi asked.

"Margaret told me that enthrallment is much more powerful than charm. Where charm increases the attractiveness of the caster, making them more desirable and thus easier to manipulate others, enthrallment makes the target totally infatuated with caster. It takes a desire: love, lust, even something a trivial as admiration, and ramps it up to eleven. The victim might even violate their own moral code if the spell is strong enough."

"So how do we stop it?" Owen asked.

Touma grimaced. "That's complicated. I don't know how long he's been under or how powerful the caster was...but we do have options."

Hoshi glanced up from her reflection. "Wanna share them?"

"Distance and time or massive trauma, be it physical or psychological."

"What about killing the witch who did it?" Zack asked. "Witches need to fuel spells right?"

The group looked slightly surprised at his rather sound logic. "Wow." Owen replied.

"What?"

"You actually asked a smart question."

"Fuck you man!"

"Incoming!" Touma screamed.

The two meisters rolled to their opposing sides, dodging several purple bolts that demolished the bases of the trees they had previously used for cover. Rio had slowly approached them while charging his burst fire for multiple shots.

"Damn it!" Touma swore. "Haven't sparred with Rio in a while...forgot he could do that. Zack!"

"Huh?" the living axe replied.

"To answer your previous question, no. Killing the caster won't work."

Hoshi glanced up at her partner. "It won't?"

"Zack was right about spells needing constant magic to stay active. But, enthrallment is a long lasting spell that induces feeling or amplifies them for extended periods of time. While it takes magic to trigger the spell-whoa!"

Touma ducked down, dodging another blast. Owen swung out from his cover, slamming Zack's axe-form into the ground before slashing upwards. The torrent of dirt and debris ripped through the air like a slash. Rio hopped back to avoid the attack but stumbled over his injured leg, causing him to lose balance.

"The spell doesn't need constant energy to keep it active, it just need to be reapplied a few times. Eventually it could become permanent."

Touma leapt over the remains of the tree tossing his blade into the air before it began to transform in midair, twisting into a crimson spear roughly the same length as Hoshi's former weapon-form. Grabbing the short-spear, he hurled it at Rio. The boy whipped his weapon up, blasting the spear as it rushed towards its target. The weapon separated as the blast struck, warping into a massive net that the blast passed through almost harmlessly.

"Blood Arts: Crimson Spear: Hunt-Net!" Touma barked.

The net tackled Rio, constricting around him until his movements were completely restricted, locking Sasha down so her barrel was facing down against Rio's injured leg. A red string of blood raced off the net, connecting to Touma's bloody palm as he raced up to the immobilized meister. "Blood Art: Constriction-Bind!" the blood-like net contracted further, seemingly hardening until it had the consistency of chains locked in place. "Sorry, Rio…" Touma groaned.

"Is he down?" Owen asked, cautiously approaching the downed meister who was now struggling against the immobile bonds. "Please tell me he's down."

"I got him restrained." he gestured to Owen's weapon partner. "Need you to do the honors." owen hefted up Zack's axe form. "Non-lethally!" Touma quickly added. Owen stopped mid-swing and sighed, shifting the weapon so the flat of the axe was prominent. Mimicking his previous actions, Owen brought the weapon down on Rio's head, knocking the boy unconscious.

"Are we sure Sasha won't be able to break free?" Hoshi asked through her reflection.

"My guess is that she's just as enthralled as Rio, but the net has her secured. Even if she did transform, she's stuck in the net. We should keep them incapacitated for now until we can address how deep they're under. Afterwords w-"

 **FWOOOSHH!**

"MOVE!" Owen screamed, leaping to the side as a gust of wind tore down a tree. Touma moved to the side, narrowly avoiding the tree while pulling Rio to the side. The two meisters glanced up to see a winged humanoid flying above the trees, wings beating heavily in the wind, sending gusts all throughout the forest.

"What is that?!" Owen shouted, readying his halberd.

Touma glanced up at the being in question, squinting his eyes to see a woman with long green hair and a curvy figure with taloned claws for feet. "I think we found a Harpy…" Touma hissed.

Owen looked up at their new adversary before turning to Touma. "We got a plan for this one? Because my long-range skill is shit."

"Mine's not much better." Touma admitted. "And I'm kinda occupied in keeping Rio and Sasha tied up." Owen gave him a surprised look. "What? You thought I make a net from Hoshi and I can still fight? I'm holding back a meister here!"

"God dammit." Owen grumbled. "Zack, get ready to resonate!"

"On it! Let's rock!"

A golden light erupted from Owen's body, enveloping him and his partner in a massive sphere that looked like Owen's head composed of golden light. Yellow arcs of energy wrapped around the manifestation of Owen's soul as the young meister flipped the halberd backward so the blade end faced the ground.

"Soul Resonance! Electric Anthem!" Owen roared, striking the cords of his makeshift guitar.

 **BWAAAAMMM!**

Touma covered his ears as he felt the vibrations erupt from Owen's weapon. Lightning and sound washed over the area in waves, but the greatest concentration was directed at the winged woman flying in the air.

Amara sneered before opening her mouth, releasing her own sonic attack.

 **SCREEEEEEE!**

The impact of the two attacks exploded when they met. The resulting shockwave leveled the woods around them. Touma himself was ill-prepared for the titanic clash and was sent flying back. His concentration of the blood-net faded as well with Hoshi's form reverting to her warped katana state.

"We lost Rio and Sasha!" Hoshi cried as Touma rolled backwards from the force being sent across the landscape. "I can't see them!"

"I know!" Touma yelled back over the force of the wind whipping past him. "I can't even see the fight now!"

"Will Soul Perception work?"

"Possible...but with this much energy being thrown around it'd be like trying to find a needle in a haystack." Touma grumbled, sliding behind an overturned tree. Peering over the tree for any sign of Rio and his weapon, Touma glanced back to the fight between Owen and the harpy. "But...I got nothing else goin' on so why not." Touma closed his eyes, focusing his power onto the surrounding area. He opened his now glowing green eyes to see the massive spheres of spiritual energy clashing in front of him. While he was familiar with Owen and Zack's souls and their appearance, it was the second soul in the air that made his eyes widened.

"Oh no…" Touma wheezed. There was no way he would miss the massive purple sphere with a witch's hat resting atop it. "She's not a monster...she's a witch!"

"WHAT?!" Hoshi screamed.

"Yeah, she's tough too. I don't know if we can take her head on-" Touma spun around blocking a flame strike from an unknown assailant. Touma readied his weapon as he rested his eyes on the figure in front of him. When he did though, his face took on a shade of red almost as dark as Hoshi's blade.

The woman in front of him wore a tight corset that left little clothed before a skimpy garment of cloth imitated a skirt. "Hello…" the woman purred.

"Uh...um…" he blubbered, as his eyes traced up and down the beauty before him. "I-uh!"

"TOUMA!" Hoshi wailed. The angry wail of his partner snapped the hormonal teen out of his stupor. "Stop ogling the chick who just tried to kill you!"

"R-right!" Touma quickly replied, straightening his posture in embarrassment. ' _Goddammit! Again I got awe-struck by another woman trying to kill me! What is it with me and dangerous woman?! There's this chick and Ingrid! And Hoshi definitely counts as dangerous…do I have a type?"_

"Well, another cute meister stumbles into our domain. Guess it's been my week." the woman replied, cocking her hip to the side. Touma ignored the provocative pose in favor of raising his blade over his head. "I wonder if I'll break you like I did your friends?" she mused.

"Excuse me?" Touma mumbled. "What did you say?"

"Your friend with the maid/rifle, I broke them. Dancing is always better when you have an audience to enthrall." The woman gave a mock bow to her opponent. "My name is Layra, Witch of Desert Embers, my lovely friend up their is Amara, Queen of the Harpies. What's your name, boy?"

Touma kept his blade steady, rage growing in his eyes. "Touma of the DWMA. And you're the witch who brainwashed Rio?"

"That's right." Layra replied.

Touma's eyes narrowed before they flashed red. Layra quirked an eyebrow before the air around them exploded. A massive sphere of green energy shaped like Touma's head enveloped the teen while crimson arcs encircled him. "SOUL RESONANCE!" he roared.

Layra leapt back, flames rocketing up from the ground to deter her opponent as he slashed at her. Backflipping behind cover the witch braced herself up against the back of a tree. "Didn't know he'd go full power on me so quickly...I'm not a fan of pushy men…"

"Don't worry!" Touma roared, leaping past the tree to slash at her. Layra ducked, letting the blade carve through the tree, sending it toppling back. "I won't be asking you for a date!" Layra backflipped over Touma's sword as he hurled it at her. The boy suddenly jerked his hand back. Layra frowned at the action until she saw the thin red string outside of his palm. Eyes widening, Layra ducked to avoid the rebounding blade that would've cleaved her head off.

"Well you have some moves don't you…" she muttered, fire dancing on her finger tips.

"Maybe you'll see my better ones before I cut your damn head off!" Touma shouted, leaping into the air to deliver a downward strike. Layra sneered, hurling a ball of flame at the airborne meister who batted it away with the flat of his blade. Touma landed in front of Layra who lashed out with a solid kick which Touma blocked with his arm.

"Gruh!" Touma twisted around, slashing at the witch who spun out of the way, leaving a small trail of embers behind her. The floating embers burned bright around Touma before exploding in a shower of sparks. Touma slid back from the explosion, coughing from the smoke.

"Touma?!" Hoshi called out.

"Gak! I-I'm fine!" he coughed waving the smoke away from his face. The smoke cleared just in time for Touma to see the witch hurling a ball of fire towards him. Touma rolled under the attack hurling his blade at his assailant in a wide arc. Layra bent back at the waist easily limboing under the cord-connected sword before spinning out of the path of its return. Fire flickered off her fingertips racing towards Touma who had to leap to the side.

"Well you are persistent, I'll give you that." the crimson haired witch grumbled before a sly smile graced her face. "I think I'll give you a little treat."

"You can keep it for yourself!" Touma roared dashing forward with a side slash, trying to bisect the woman who bent backwards letting the attack sail over her. "Damn you!" Touma hissed as the woman continued to dodge his attack with the grace of a dancer.

The woman's movements slowed however when she reached a sizeable distance from her assailant. Her actions became more controlled as she traced her hands up her hips before starting to sway them back and forth to an imaginary beat. Touma ignored this as he rushed forward to slash her, but once again she dodged, this time by tilting to the side, letting him miss her by a mere inch. Keeping in close, he struck again, but this time she bent forward letting the blade sail over her while also giving the teen a generous view of her bust.

Touma blushed but quickly shrugged off the sight. Lunging forward, Layra spun around him, brushing up against him. Her scent flooded his senses as her hair whipped past his face. Turning to face her, he saw her rocking her hips back and forth, drawing attention to her curvy rear. His eyes lingered longer than he would've like as she lashed out at him with a cloud of sparks that forced Touma backwards.

"Guh!" he grunted, readying himself for another attack, but one never came. Instead Layra continued her dance, undulating to some unheard song while all Touma could do was stare with increasing interest. "H-hey...w-what are you…"

"Oh~" Layra purred out, her voice taking on a much more seductive tone as she rocked forward once more offering another view of her cleavage to the teen who by now was barely putting any effort into not staring. "Is something wrong~? I thought you wanted to slice me up~" bending backwards, she began to shimmy, moving her hips in a slow roll, making sure the boy could catch a glimpse of her exposed thigh, even teasing a view of her derriere through the gap in her skirt.

"I-I mean...yeah...but…" Touma mumbled, cheeks red, as his stare focused on the rolling motion of her hips. He followed her hand as it traced its way up her thigh, grazing over her smooth navel before resting back on her top, drawing his eyes to the valley of her cleavage.

"Sooo~" she mused moving a bit closer, embers spewing off her gloves, creating a visual spectacle to further enthrall her new audience. "Have you changed your mind~?"

Touma watched her move closer, the grip on his weapon slipping as arousal wittiled away at his fighting spirit.

"TOUMA!" spikes exploded from the handle of his sword. Digging into his palm before hooks formed from their tips, trapping the weapon in his hand.

"Gah!" Touma screamed. Alerting Layra to the interruption of her dance. Deciding to go for broke, the desert witch hurled a volley of fire directly into Touma's face. Quick instincts was all that saved the teen from having his face immolated, instead, his scarf caught fire, sending the teen flailing backwards.

"Damn…" Layra grimaced waving her hands in front of her, creating a ring of fire that seemed to wrap around her form like a veil before jumping forward flinging the flames out like whip that Touma barely dodged by hopping backwards on his rear, the flames slapping the ground where his lap once was.

"Dammit!" he hissed, lashing out with his weapon by hurling it in a wide arc that Layra ducked under. But the second she did, Touma pulled back on the cord connecting him to his weapon, pulling the blade back. Layra however, only moved slightly to the left, letting the weapon sail past her and back into the hands of her master.

"Gruh…" Touma grumbled, blood still dripping from his injured hand. "Hoshi-"

"Don't you 'Hoshi' me!" his weapon partner wailed back at him. "I could see she was trying to seduce and enthrall you just like Rio!"

"Hoshi, I-"

"No excuses! You can't just ogle your opponent in battle! Especially when you have me to ogle afterwards!"

"Hoshi!" Touma screamed, cheeks a vibrant red. "I was trying to say thank you!"

"Don't you t-huh?"

"That trick worked! Listen, she knows my weakness so keep the spikes active! We need to use Blood Art Level 2 on this witch so I need you to keep my blood in."

"It's gonna hurt…" Hoshi mumbled. "I don't wanna hurt you…"

"Hoshi, I-"

"You'll owe me for this one...Blood Art: Crimson Gluttony!"

The blood dripping down Touma's hand quickly began to recede back into his palm as his sword soaked up the crimson fluid before pumping it back into his body. Touma's eyes began to take on a crimson glow before he raised his sword. "Make sure I'm thinking with my head."

"Your upstairs one and not the downstairs one, right?"

Touma blushed again. "Hoshi!"

Their banter was cut short when a wave of fire flew towards him. Touma ducked to the side before regaining his footing and rocketing forward, stabbing at Layra who, again, twirled around him, only to nearly meet the edge of Hoshi's blade. Stopping herself just short of reaching the weapon, she stepped back, lashing out with her fiery veil. Touma ducked backwards at the waist, losing no moment when he spun forwards, attacking with a slash.

Layra instinctively ducked. The slash went over her head before the sound of bark splitting echoed out. Followed the fall of a tree. The witch looked up at her enemy to see blood running alongside the length of the blade, but no blood ever dropped from its surface, instead it constantly flowed over the weapon like a river.

"Oh I get it." Layra smirked. Inside she was grimacing. ' _Looks like he can use that blood for mid-range slash attacks. Even if I dodge the blade, the blood form the weapon could still cut me.'_ "Didn't know a cute kid like you could do stuff like this. Maybe you deserve a special dance~"

Touma felt a spike of pain in his hand. Hoshi's spikes had sunk deeper. "Keep it to yourself, bitch." He swung his sword upwards, creating an arc of blood that sliced the air, racing towards the witch. Layra spun to the the side, letting the attack graze the ends of her skirt before whipping back to face her opponent who was now upon her.

Touma delivered a blade slash to the witch that she barely avoided by back flipping away. But when she landed, pain bit her shoulder. Glancing down to see a cut gracing the front of her flesh, anger surged through her. Layra began to move in rhythm again, the embers around her spiraling into the air like a tornado that she was the center of.

Pain bit Touma's hand again as he stared at the dance, but unlike this time he felt neither arousal or any sort of charm magic affecting him. "Hoshi...brace yourself."

* * *

 **BWWWAAAAAMMM!**

The booming bellows from Zach's weapon form hammered against the screams of the Harpy Witch. Owen continued to strum the guitar string of his great axe, doing everything in his power to focus on the repeating rhythm that was keeping the sonic attacks at bay.

' _Dammit! I can't keep up this resonance for much longer…'_ Owen could feel the vibration reverberating through his body, making his bones creek and his muscles tear. ' _At best I got another 30 seconds before this cripples me and this witch isn't letting up!'_

 **FWWSSSHH!**

Amara's scream ceased when a glowing bolt of light pierced her wing. The avian witch now had no defense from Owen's attack. The soundwaves ripped across the battlefield, throwing her through the air like a leaf.

"Who dares?!" she screamed.

Owen looked up to see a figure perched high on a cliffside looking over the forest's clearing. When he laid eyes on the figure that had saved him, his posture relaxed as fatigue hit him like a bag of bricks.

"Is that who I think it is?!" Zack exclaimed.

"Yep. You look good, Elise." Owen called up, a rare smirk on his face.

Above the meister and witch, perched atop the cliff overlooking the battlefield was a young woman of 17. Her short blonde hair was cut at the shoulder, framing her fair face adorned with thin red glasses that covered her emerald eyes. Her attire consisted of a green sleeveless sweater over a white button-up blouse with a red bow-tie at her neck. A short plaid skirt stopped at her thighs where a set of knee-high socks deceneded until they met a pair of knee-high brown boots.

In her hand was a black and gold bow adorned with glowing petals arcing off white branches. Elise drew back the bowstring and an arrow formed of pure light, notching itself on the drawstring as she aimed it at Amara.

The woman smirked down at the two combatants. "Hello Owen." she called out. "You don't look so good. Rough day? Or did Zack do something stupid?"

"Hey!" Zack shouted from his weapon form.

"Nah…" Owen sighed. "Just bad luck actually...y'know I'd love to carry on this conversation, but uh…" the teen glanced towards the witch still flying in the air. Amara looked between the two students with a sneer.

"You just keep coming up with annoyances!" she screamed, flapping her wings to propel herself up into the air. Elise didn't let her ascend far before loosing an arrow from her bow, letting the glowing bolt fly towards the airborne witch.

Amara performed a barrel roll in the air, dodging the bolt and lashing out with one of her wings creating a powerful gust of wind that tore through the air and towards Elise. The female meister leapt back from her perch, backflipping away from gale. Her boots smashed into the cliffside, letting her grind down the slope, three arrows notched and ready to fire.

Amara shot forwards, leaving a plumage of feathers in her wake as she came in close, slashing at Elise with her talons, only for the meister to roll down the slope to dodge, losing her arrows in the process. Amara flew up, letting the attack miss before another arrow grazed her cheek.

"Gruh!"

Elise finally reached the end of the cliff face, rolling onto her back and firing another pair of arrows at her opponent. Banking left, Amara prepared another scream, but before she could fire, Elise backflipped to her feet as a green and blue aura wrapped around her.

"SOUL RESONANCE!"

A massive explosion of energy echoed outward from the bespeckled girl, enveloping her in a sphere of energy reminiscent of her own head. The blue and green sphere slowly shrunk as she raised her weapon, drawing back the bowstring. Amara noticed the petals on the bow were glowing a bright pink.

Another arrow formed in Elise's hand, notched onto the string of the bow. This arrow however was larger than the first few. It glowed a vibrant blue before a pink hue began to take it over. "Trident Arrow!"

Elise let the arrow loose. The bolt fired towards the Amara who opened her mouth to scream. As her attack fired, the arrow shattered in mid air.

"Wha-?!" The shattered remains of the arrow arced outward, creating three bolts of light racing towards Amara, well out of the arc of her scream. Amara had no time and nowhere to fly to when the bolts collided with her. One through her right wing, one through her thigh, and one just left of her heart.

"GAH!" she coughed, blood spilling from her mouth whilst she tumbled to the ground. She hit the dirt unceremoniously, body lying still.

"You were really having trouble with her?" Elise said, turning to Owen and cocking her hip to the side, bow resting on her shoulder.

Owen shrugged his shoulders. "One, she jumped us in a surprise attack. Two, my long range sucks. Not all of us have a bow."

Elise's smirk didn't falter. "Not all of us have a battle axe for close combat."

"Are you guys really comparing me and Hashiko?" Zack grumbled from his weapon form.

"I believe Elise is just comparing our different abilities to convey a point, Zack." a refined feminine voice spoke from the bow.

"Hey Hashiko." Owen sighed, exhaustion settling in.

"Greetings, Owen, Zack. I'm glad you two are safe." the bow said. "Where is Hoshi and Touma? I thought they were with you."

"We got split up when that damn witch showed up!" Zack shouted. Owen used his weapon to stand, bracing himself on it like a cane.

Owen glanced back to the forest. "Last I saw of them was back in the woods."

 **FWWWOOOSSHH!**

The group looked up in shock as a tornado of fire erupted in the center of the forest, illuminating the area in an orange glow. The heat coming from the forest was now sweltering, like the group had just opened an oven.

"What the-?!" Elise hissed, bracing herself as a shockwave swept over clearing, pushing them to their knees while embers flew over their heads.

"The Hell is that?!" Zack screamed as the inferno roared in the distance.

* * *

Touma backed up slowly as a tornado of fire enveloped Layra, distorting her image until it was barely a shadow. The flames rocketed higher and higher until they began to cloud the sky with smoke and embers.

"Oh…" Touma grumbled.

"Shit." Hoshi finished. "Touma…"

"Uh...yeah…"

"You know we should probably-"

"I know!" Touma shouted, sprinting away from tornado like a mad-man. "Blood Arts: Red-Rush High! Level 2!"

The fire raced towards the teen before his visage vanished, dirt erupted over the flames, nearly dousing them. Touma's step created clouds of dust as he sprinted across the forest, hooking a tree with his sword and propelling himself through the air, vaulting over the tree-tops and towards the clearing.

"Touma!" hoshi shouted.

"I am not looking back, Hoshi!" Touma replied.

"Clearly!"

Touma cringed. He could feel the heat radiating from behind him. It felt like he was a centimeter away from a bonfire. His scarf was suddenly far too warm for him and sweat broke out across his entire body.

"C'mon! C'mon!" Touma screamed, hitting the ground and rocketing forward out of the woods and towards the clearing as the crackling of rushing fire grew ever closer.

Fire licked the ends of his coat igniting the cloth. "Shit! Touma screamed as his coat burst into flames. The fire was spreading quicker than any regular flame, burning the cloth to cinders. Touma's scarf was the next to lite, this time fear gripped at his heart. "No no no no!"

"Touma?!" Hoshi called out hearing the panic in his voice. "Touma's what's wrong?!"

"MY SCARF!" he screamed, frantic panic settling into his voice.

"Oh no…" Hoshi mumbled, realizing the source of his panic. "This will hurt…Blood Arts: Red Rush High! Level 3!"

"Level 3?!" Touma shouted. He felt his body light on fire, but this time he knew it wasn't from the flames behind him. His muscles burned as he felt the wind rush past his face. At this point his body was moving on instinct instead of thought. The ground was suddenly approaching the ground much faster now to the point Touma was afraid he had hit terminal velocity.

Hoshi's sword whipped in front of him of her own volition. Stabbing into the ground. The sudden momentum pivoted Toumma through the air where he landed on his feet, right before he fell forward in a roll, scarf flapping on the ground, embers spewing off of them.

Hoshi relieved herself of her weapon form, once more turning human. Grabbing the ends of Touma's scarf, she whipped it off his neck as he recovered from the involuntary sprint he had endured. Hoshi immediately went to work beating the scarf on the ground, desperately trying to extinguish the flames.

"H-Hoshi…" Touma panted, glancing over to his now hunched over partner. "I-i-is…"

"I'm sorry Touma…" Hoshi grumbled, turning around to present the extinguished scarf to left end of the scarf was completely charred and had begun to fray near the burnt edges. "I didn't get it in time…" she whimpered. Hoshi looked up at her partner with what looked like small tears forming near their corners. "I'm sorry-EEP!"

Before the girl could react, Touma had pulled her into a hug, gripping the scarf with one hand while his arms encircled her neck, pulling her flush against him. "What are you talking about?" Touma replied, pulling back to reveal a genuine smile of relief. "You saved it!"

"B-but that scarf belonged to Magaret...last time it got torn you…"

"Yeah…" Touma replied, looking down at his partner's knees. "It's kinda a berserk button for me."

"It would be for me to if I had an heirloom like that that got destroyed. Especially from someone who was like a mother to me."

"Well...I'm pretty sure if that flame had really ruined it I would've murdered that witch no matter what."

"Margaret really meant alot to you, huh? That's scarf is the most precious item you have because it was from her, right?" Hoshi asked.

Touma blushed slightly, looking away from his partner before answering. "I-it's not just because it's from Margaret…" he mumbled.

* * *

 **2 Years Ago**

"Here." A girl with frumpy looking black hair muttered, handing off a patchy looking scarf to a younger, shorter, silver haired boy with green eyes.

"What's this?" the boy grumbled, barely looking at the article of clothing as it was handed to him.

"You're scarf, genius." the girl replied. The boy's head snapped to the cloth before his hand wrenched it from her at a surprising speed.

"WHAT?!" How'd you get your hands on this again?! I locked it in my room so you wouldn't slice it up!"

"Yeah. And I still got the scarf. Get better locks."

"Why'd you even break in there?! You can't just invade my room any time you fe-wha-what is this?" the boy asked when he finally took a closer look at the scarf in question.

"It's a scarf." the girl replied bluntly.

"I can see that!" the boy snapped back. "B-but you had sliced it up earlier! Now it's...it's fixed! Well...fixed-ish. D-did you sew this?"

"I stitched it. Yeah...so what?" the girl asked, looking away while scratching her neck. The boy stared at her in awe for a moment, eyes darting between the girl and his scarf.

"Y-you fixed it."

"Yeah."

"My scarf?"

"Are you blind? Yes. I fixed your scarf."

"Uh...thanks...I guess. B-but why?"

"I fixed your stupid scarf. Stop asking stupid questions. We've got missions to do. Let's go."

The silver-haired teen glanced at the roughly done patch job of his scarf before looking back to his weapon partner. "Uh...H-Hoshi!" the frumpy haired girl stopped to glance back.

"What?"

"U-um...thank you."

Hoshi turned away, once more scratching her neck."Shut up, Touma. Let's go."

"Right." Touma replied, throwing his newly repaired scarf around his neck and taking off after his partner.

* * *

 **Present**

"Touma?" Hoshi asked.

"Huh?" the boy muttered. "AH!" he cried, falling back. " _Dammit! I was spacing out again! Quick pass it off as nothing!"_

Hoshi leaned in uncomfortably close, eyes narrowing. "You're not going to try and pass off your spacing out as nothing, are you?"

" _Crap!"_ Touma screamed inside his head as his partner crawled on top of him, further pinning him down.

"Touma...what were you thinking of?" she questioned.

"I-Uh...w-well...just that...uh…"

"What did you mean by what you said? Who else makes that scarf special?" she glared.

"Uh...well…"

"Ahem." a new voice coughed.

The two teens turned their heads to see the assembled group of Elise and Owen, weapons by their sides, staring at the teens in the rather compromising position of Hoshi practically straddling a prone Touma's lap. Elise, seemingly the one who had caught their attention, decided to speak first. "Are we interrupting something?"

"Looks like it." Owen muttered.

"Uh…" Touma mumbled, his face a bright shade of red. "We...we uh…"

Hoshi spoke up. "We were having a private conversation!" she pouted, cheeks puffing out adorably. "Please come back later."

Hashiko decided to speak up from her bow form. "Hoshi-chan, a private conversation of...this nature should be conducted behind closed doors, not out in the woods."

"Not in horror movies! By the way, hi Hashi-chan!" Hoshi waved, still remaining planted on her meister's lap.

Elise quirked an eyebrow. "And don't those same people always end up being the first to die? Are you comparing yourself to dead people?"

"Hell no!" Hoshi exclaimed.

"You might wanna rethink that." Owen muttered, looking up into the glowing sky. The remaining teens turned their heads to see that the massive firestorm was still raging towards them.

"How did we forget that?!" Touma shouted, Hoshi transforming into a sword when her meister hopped to his feet.

"Because you're hot as Hell weapon was practically sitting in your lap." Zack called out. Touma's blush deepened.

"So, anyone got a plan?" Owen asked, hefting his axe over his shoulder. "I don't think the shockwaves from my soul resonance is gonna be able to push that back…"

Elise backed up as the fire spread towards them, embers whipping around them like thousands of fireflies. "Yeah my moves aren't exactly built for firepower…"

"Yeah, well my range sucks and we've got nothing for this!" Touma shouted.

"SOUL RESONANCE! ATOMIC DESTROYER!"

The three meisters spun around in time to see a massive sphere of purple energy barreling towards them. The trio leapt to the side as the blast dragged its way across the clearing and into the tornado.

 **BRAAKKKOOOOMM!**

The two masses of destruction collided in a spectacular explosion of heat and force, sending all living beings flying back whilst demolishing the landscape around them. The shockwave from the clash ripped across the clearing, blasting the three meisters in every direction while debris and smoke rushed past them far after they had landed.

Touma groggily raised himself to his knees, watching as the debris settled. Standing before the wake of destruction was a young man, his white cap dirtied from the explosion as he leaned on a massive octagonal cannon that seemed to be to big for him.

Rio collapsed to his knees, panting in exhaustion, his eyes still hazy from all that had transpired. "Please...tell me...I hit...the right person…" he wheezed.

Touma glanced to the destroyed area, which extended to the remains of the scorched woods. "Uh...yeah. I think so."

"Oh...good...not really...thinking right…" Rio mumbled in response. The exhausted teen crumpled to his knees.

"Rio!" Touma screamed, bolting up from his downed position to check on his turned the boy over and felt his pulse.

"Is he alive?" Owen called out limping towards them with Elise in tow.

"Yeah. Looks like he's just exhausted. Both mentally and physically."

"Hmm." Owen nodded. "Is he still enthralled?" he asked, looking to Touma.

"Hard to tell. To be safe, I'd say yeah. Best to keep them both out. Sasha isn't coming out of weapon form so we can assume she's acting on her basic instincts of being Rio's partner. We need to get them out of here."

"Where'd that thing come from anyway?" Owen grunted, lifting Rio onto his back while Zack returned to human form to lift Sasha's now enlarged weapon form.

Touma glanced back to the scorched landscape. "You mean that inferno? We ran into the witch that enthralled Rio, she had fire abilities."

"You said Rio was enthralled?" Elise spoke up, looking to the unconscious meister resting on Owen's back. "Should I keep an arrow on him?"

"You're not aiming an arrow at my back." Owen dead-panned.

"The witch was able to enthrall both Rio and Sasha?" Hashiko asked. "She could target both genders?"

"Yeah." Touma replied, remembering the seductive witch. "She had skill."

"Touma was practically drooling over her." Hoshi grumbled aloud for all to hear. Touma's face went beat red as the group turned to look at him.

"She was very attractive!" he shouted. The group gave a dead-pan stare to the teen who could only blush further in embarrassment.

Elise simply sighed. "Men."

"Ouch." Owen dead-panned before stopping. "Wait. Where's the witch you downed?"

Elise stopped mid-stride, whipping around to view the area she had last left her opponent. The scorched landscape showed no signs of the harpy queen "Oh fuck."

 **RMMMBLLLEEE!**

The ground began to shake before the land around them suddenly uprooted itself like a tidal wave. "What the-?!" Zack screamed. The group scattered as the wave of dirt and earth crashed down on them, scattering the group.

"Shit!" Touma screamed as the impact created a shockwave that rocked the area. The group was sent flying through the air as the ground burst to life again. The ground morphed into massive stone fists that descended upon them. "Move! Move! Move!"

 **KKRRAAKOOM!**

The group was once more sent flying, crashing into the ground with resounding thuds.

"Ugh…"

"Oww…"

"The fuck!" Zack screamed. The blonde-haired teen scrambled to his feet picking up Sasha's weapon form. "What the fuck?!"

"Oh man…" Touma mumbled, looking at the distorted landscape. "That was Earth-magic…"

"High tier stuff too…" Elise added. "Did that fire witch have a dual affinity or something?"

Touma shook his head. "Not that I saw…"

"Seriously!" Zack screamed. "What the fuck was that?!"

"Earth-magic." Owen grumbled, lifting himself off the ground with Rio still on his back. "That Harpy couldn't do stuff like this."

Ellise nodded. "Her's was more wind-based."

"That was someone else." Touma muttered. "Give me a second and keep me covered." Touma closed his eyes, focusing his wavelength until it spread across the area. Besides the eight of them, no other living creature were present in the newly formed clearing. "And whoever it was is gone."

"That's good, right?" Hoshi mumbled. Touma gave his sword a sympathetic look.

Owen was the first to respond to the question. "It means they all got away. 2, potentially 3 witches escaped us. That's not good."

Elise glared at Owen. "Don't be such a buzzkill, Owen. They're elimination wasn't the mission. The mission was to retrieve our friends which we did."

"Elise is right." Hashiko added. "Let us take the victory we have, not bemoan our failures."

"Let's just call this day done and the mission a success." Zack groaned, hefting Sasha's weapon form onto his shoulder. "Sasha is heavy and I'm beat. Let's get out of here."

Touma nodded. "Let's keep our guard up until we get back to town, I don't want to get ambushed as we're walking." The group nodded in agreement, all of them oblivious to the ferret-like creature at the top of the cliff-face peering down at them before scurrying off.

* * *

"Ugh…" Amara groaned as Layra gently turned her over.

"Is her majesty alright?!" Ecky cried. Layra nodded before turning to the being who had ensured their escape.

"I thought you bailed on us." the desert witch grumbled, glaring at the mage in his hooded visage.

"Eh, better brownie points if I bring you lot back alive than dead. Besides, I got to see what some of those meisters could do."

"Scoping out potential allies?" she asked, bitterly

"Eh, you're competition isn't very steep to be honest." The mage replied, looking out into the woods as if waiting for something. "No offense but you and Amara aren't exactly top tier in terms of power, and it took four meisters and their weapons to beat you. If it'd been Freya or Ingrid I'm confident they'd be dead by now."

"Well of course we pale in comparison to the Azure and Crimson Witches." Layra sighed. "They're up there on Maba's hit list."

"Ha!" the mage laughed, pulling back his hood to reveal sandy blonde hair. "You mean her list of potential successors? Yeah. But Ingrid is definitely not on it. Maba wants her dead because of her attitude, not because she could take the position of Grand Witch."

Rustling in the trees kept Layra from responding as a ferret like being rushed out of the foliage and up the Mage's leg until it perched on his shoulder, squeaking away in a language only its master could understand.

"Well, looks like they're leaving." The mage said. "Good job Nan." he said, petting the ferret affectionately before ushering it into his jacket where it disappeared. "Let's get moving." he muttered, opening a page from the book attached to his waist. Holding the tome upside down, a magic seal appeared beneath it, depositing a large armored creature roughly the size of an ox but composed entirely of armored scales. Its eight legs were insect-like in nature but the rest of its body more closely resembled a manta ray.

The creature positioned itself beneath Amara, lifting the injured witch onto its body. The mage gestured for the remaining occupants of the clearing to follow him as he led the way through the woods.

"Hey." Layra said, catching the young man's attention. "Why are you really allying with us?"

"The better question is why should I answer that?" the mage replied, a cocky grin taking hold of his face.

Layra scowled at him, resisting the urge to throw a fireball at him. "It would be a show of trust, wouldn't it?"

"I guess so. But you shouldn't trust me. And I don't trust you."

"Then why are you working with us Witches...Eibon?"

The teen shrugged. "Believe it or not, you're the lesser of two evils." Eibon turned back to the shadowed woods, disappearing into the darkness, leaving the witches with his vague answer.

* * *

 **Authors Note: Again, just for the record of clarification, this is an AU where I've taken several liberties to change some of the things in the Soul Eater universe. One of which being some of Death's background as its left pretty ambiguous, especially in regards to what he did with his 8 Warlords (his bodyguards, of which Asura was the strongest of). Besides the five that are explicitly introduced in the Manga (Look up Shinigami Legions on the Soul Eater wiki if you don't know them) the other three are left largely unexplained besides the mention that Asura killed them at some point (presumably eating their souls as well). So I've taken some liberties to create OCs for some of them with Velka being the first. Also, of the five that are actually named, they will have larger and more significantly changed roles in the future of this story.**

 **Some of the other things to note are the locations of certain areas in Soul Eater's world, as besides the 7 continents, the Governmental structure is almost never touched on or explained, so I will be adding and changing things as I see fit. The witch community is also very loosely developed, thus why I've added a few elements to it.**


End file.
